Record High Public Sector Employment in South Korea Amid Pandemic

In 2022, South Korea experienced an unprecedented surge in public sector employment, reaching an all-time high of 2.88 million, as reported by Statistics Korea. This figure marked a 1.4% increase from the previous year and represented the highest level since 2016 when related data compilation began. The growth in public sector hiring has been consistent, rising from 2.6 million in 2019 to 2.76 million in 2020 and 2.84 million in 2021.

However, the pace of growth has decelerated for the second consecutive year in 2022. Public sector employees constituted 10.2% of the total workforce, experiencing a 0.2 percentage point decrease from the previous year—the first such decline. Approximately 85.6% of these public jobs were within the government, while state-run companies accounted for 14.4%.

The public administration, defense, and social security sectors comprised 48.3% of total public sector employment, with the education service and health and social welfare sectors following at 27.2% and 4%, respectively. The data also revealed that individuals in their 40s held the largest share of public sector jobs at 26.6%, with those in their 30s and 50s close behind at 24.7% and 24.1%.