Why do young civil servants want to move to private sector?

Sejong Government Complex / Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

• Published Jun 21, 2023 4:19 PM KST
• Updated Jun 21, 2023 5:35 PM KST

Low pay, heavy workload, rigid office culture said to be behind public service exodus

By Lee Kyung-min

Young public servants are quitting their jobs and heading to the private sector, due to frustration over low pay, limited prospects of promotion and a rigid work culture, according to market watchers. The exodus has accelerated since the government's ministries began to move to Sejong, an administrative city located 112 km south of Seoul.

A woman in her late 20s in the public service said she quit her job.

“I make no more than 1.8 million won ($1,400) a month, unless I work overtime. I don't see the point anymore.”

She said minimum wage workers make more money than she does.

“The same hours worked means 1.8 million won for me and over 2 million won for minimum wage part-time workers. I felt stuck.”

Similarly, a Sejong-based public servant said he went on leave. Months of people-facing service at the complaints department left him drained.

“I thought the public service was not that bad a choice, since it has high job security and a pension. But every time I go home from work, I feel like quitting. I will look for a new job or do something else.”

According to a 2022 survey by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, more than 3 out of 5 public servants in their 20s and 30s said they were willing to change jobs if given the chance.

The survey of 6,000 public servants was released on June 6 and shows that 65.3 percent of the respondents with work experience of five years or less were prepared to change jobs conditionally.

To the same questionnaire, about 45.2 percent of the total respondents had said yes a year earlier.

The figure of 45.2 percent was up 11.7 percentage points from the year before that (33.5 percent).

Last year's figure is the highest since 2011 when the institute began the survey.

Nearly three-quarters of those in their 20s and 30s said low pay is the main reason for leaving.

Younger and less experienced staff showed a higher desire to to leave the public service.

Over 61 percent of respondents in their 20s indicated so, followed by 58.9 percent in their 30s, 42.6 percent in their 40s and 29.8 percent in their 50s and older.

Over half of the respondents had a Ph.D., followed by a master's degree (43.6 percent), bachelor's degree (46.7 percent) and school diploma (38 percent).

Young public servants had a weaker sense of commitment or value regarding the public service overall.

Only about a third in their 20s and 30s said they considered their sense of duty to the country and the public as important. This was far lower than the average 53.2 percent.

Only 37.5 percent of those in their 20s and 30s said they were satisfied with their work. Over 65 percent of them said they were not appreciated by society.

The institute said employee benefits should be strengthened and seniority-based pay should be overhauled.

“Workers should be paid based on their performance and productivity,” the institute said.

A mid-level public official said the younger generation are governed more by the sense of fairness and equality than their senior peers, especially when it concerns pay structure.

“The so-called MZ generation are not afraid to voice their opinions on the need to be fairly paid for their work. When they receive a paycheck at the end of every month, they may get frustrated because they will not see any meaningful increase under the current seniority-based structure.”

Senior public servants leave after being recruited by private firms, he added. But entry-level officials do not have experience appreciated by the market yet.

“Young people think they worked hard in school for years. When they think they are underpaid with no better prospects whatsoever, they leave.”

Another reason for leaving is the rigid work culture, according to another public servant.

“In the public service, almost no one can make another's life heaven but making it hell is most certainly possible. This is nothing new. The only difference is that the young people still have the energy to fight it.”

Data from Rep. Choi Hye-young of the Democratic Party of Korea on the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee showed 49 public servants died by suicide last year. In May five more public servants took their own lives. Most of them suffered workplace bullying or were assigned to departments they did not want to work in.