70,000 Public Sector Workers to Lose Jobs in Downsizing
By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
The Lee Myung-Bak administration is considering handing out pink slips to about 70,000 public employees nationwide to streamline its management.
Kwak Seung-Joon, the senior presidential secretary for state affairs planning, said that some 70,000 workers are to be made redundant. There are currently around 258,000 employees working at 305 state-run, quasi-government and government-funded institutions.
President Lee's administration is reportedly planning to finalize the public-sector restructuring plan by May 30, when the President returns from his state visit to China and could officially announce the initiative early next month.
But the government could be in for a bruising political battle. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions is expected to vigorously oppose the government downsizing and plans to organize major protests if President Lee does indeed start his restructuring effort.
President Lee's streamlining initiative involves privatizing public entities, combining or closing agencies and internal downsizing. Over 50 state-run enterprises face privatization, including the Korea Development Bank, the Incheon International Airport Corporation and the Korea Power Engineering Company.
One senior official in President Lee's administration noted the government will try to limit employee layoffs mostly to those entities that face privatization. Additionally, those who do face layoffs will be given substantial job re-training, according to the official.
Streamlining the public sector was one of the main pledges President Lee made during his election campaign last year. The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) reported its preliminary audit results on 31 major public entities Thursday and said it found some 300 cases of possible monetary misappropriation and poor financial management that cost the state an aggregated 1 trillion won ($959 million).