By Yun Suh-young

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security announced Tuesday that it will hire temporary personnel to replace civil servants taking maternity and parental leave.

The ministry said the government will conduct a survey to estimate personnel shortages in each department and push for a revision of the law to increase the number of temporary hires.

Larger numbers of lower level officials will be recruited if the law is revised.

The move comes amid claims that departments are experiencing problems due to a shortage of employees.

Over 5,000 civil servants went on maternity leave last year but less than half (2,152 people) had their work covered by temporary hires. The remaining 2,471 vacant posts remained unfilled.

Under the current law, government departments can hire temporary workers if their employees go on maternity leave. However, the system is rarely implemented, adding to the difficulties of other civil servants.

“The government strived to create a better environment for women to work in. We hope the new measure will encourage more people to go on maternity leave and encourage people to have more babies,” said an official at the ministry.

The number of people taking leave tripled from 1,723 in 2007 to 5,218 last year. The maternity leave system was first adopted in 1995.

Moreover, the number of people taking such leave is expected to increase further over the coming years because the number of years parents can take off is to be extended from one to three years. The number of female employees is also on the rise.