Public institutions H1 hiring falls short of target

Published : Aug 7, 2017 - 10:05 Updated : Aug 7, 2017 - 10:05

Public institutions hired some 9,730 people in the first half of this year, missing the target for the period and falling under the average of previous years, government data showed Monday.

According to All Public Information in One (ALIO), a government portal, public organizations newly employed 9,739 people in the January-June months, accounting for 49 percent of the 19,862 new workers they planned to hire for the entire year. The initial goal was to meet 55.9 percent of the target by the midway point.

(Yonhap)

The first-half figure also falls below the 50 percent average for 2013-2015, data showed.

The Moon Jae-in administration, after taking office in May, has made job creation and employment its top priorities to improve the lives of the people. It also has been campaigning for state and private firms to turn their temporary workers into permanent employees.

On top of the public hiring goal set by the preceding administration, the Moon government added 2,500 more to the target, creating a rush to fulfill the number in the second half.

Second-quarter employment was especially low, data indicated.

January-March hirings totaled 5,046, 94 people short of the goal.

But for the following quarter, the hirings stopped at 4,693, missing the target by 1,267 people.

Government officials said part of the reason was that there were fewer retirees than expected, opening up fewer positions.

A more prevalent explanation among officials is that public agencies withheld employment during the second quarter when the government was under siege by the impeachment of then-President Park Geun-hye.

"Political uncertainties were high, so it would not have been easy to make decisions on new hirings," an official said. "Agencies that were headed by chiefs appointed by Park or where top executive positions were vacant would not have been in a position to hire people." (Yonhap)