Public institutions to boost hiring

Public institutions will hire the largest number of employees next year, which the government hopes will ease the high youth unemployment rate in Korea.

Some 300 public institutions will hire a total of 19,862 new employees next year, up 7.3 percent from the 18,518 they plan to hire this year, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Monday. As of the third quarter, public institutions hired 14,790, or nearly 80 percent of the goal they have set for this year, and the Finance Ministry added that they will be able to meet its target.

Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corporation (KHNP) are among the public institutions that will hire next year. Kepco will hire the most employees, or 1,271.

“The labor market for youth continues to be sluggish and the youth unemployment rate is two times bigger than the overall unemployment rate,” said Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Il-ho at a job fair that the government hosted at COEX, in southern Seoul, on Monday. “The government will have the public institutions hire nearly 20,000 new employees next year to reduce burdens for young job seekers. We will give full support to young Koreans as we believe they are the future [of the country].”

Finance Minister Yoo emphasized that the state-run organizations created more jobs for young people since all institutions have adopted the peak wage system. The system has been well received and has been proposed by many labor specialists, who say it could give more room for companies to hire young people by cutting costs of high-paid executives or managers.

“The number of new job offers by energy and health-care sectors rose compared to the past,” said Kim Un-sung, a director at the Finance Ministry.

The National Health Insurance Service will hire the second most employees next year, or 1,050, Seoul National University Hospital will hire 873 and KHNP will hire 661.

A total of 298 state-run organizations will begin recruiting at the start of next year, but the government has noted that the number of employees that will be hired is subject to change.

The government hosted its seventh annual job fair event, where recruiters from some 120 public institutions and 20,000 job seekers participated on Monday and Tuesday at COEX in eastern Seoul.

The overall unemployment rate in October rose 0.3 percentage points from the previous year to 3.4 percent. During the same period, the youth unemployment rate, or the number of jobless ages 15 to 29, rose 1.1 percentage points to 8.5 percent.

BY KIM YOUNG-NAM [kim.youngnam@joongang.co.kr]