By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Jobs at state-invested public enterprises, which have been dream workplaces for college students because of their good welfare and job security, will be even harder to get this year, as firms are planning to employ 22.2 percent less people than last year.
According to a survey on 49 public companies by Incruit, an online job market information provider, 36 of them that have set up a recruitment plan for this year will hire 2,370 people, down 22.2 percent from 3,048 of the last year.
The remaining 13 haven't set up recruitment plan yet or plan to hire nobody this year.
Public firms are refraining from new recruiting as the incoming Lee Myung-bak administration has pledged to restructure public enterprises. These firms have been criticized for irresponsible management and ineffective organization.
Their plan to jack up the retirement age of the employees is also leaving less job posts for rookies.
The firms are scrapping regulations on degrees and age, and are refraining from reflecting foreign language test scores in recruitment, upon the advice from the Ministry of Planning & Budget last year. Since this means more people can apply for positions, public enterprise jobs will become even harder to obtain.
Korea Electrical Safety Corporation said it would hire around 70 people, 38 percent less than last year. Korea Midland Power will recruit 80, cutting new jobs by over 50 percent from a year ago, and Korea Expressway Corporation is hiring 100, down 30 from 2007.
Public enterprises have been one of the most preferred job places during the last few years. According to statistics by Incruit last November, these jobs were nearly twice as competitive to get than jobs at major conglomerates. An average 76 people applied for one post in these public firms. The ratio goes up to over 200 applications to one post in some of them. Incheon Port Authority, for example, which hired four people last year, got resumes from 1,182 applicants.
Those seeking jobs with the government will also face fiercer competition. The government cut the number of new government officials to 4,868, down 24.9 percent from the previous year.