Bigger government

President Lee Myung-bak has forgotten many of his campaign pledges. One of them is his commitment to a small government. During his three-year presidency, more than 14,000 government payrolls were added.

The presidential office was the most aggressive in increasing payrolls. Sixty-three senior secretaries are working for President Lee, up 21.2 percent in three years.

The local governments outpace the central government in increasing manpower. Many local governments have increased recruitment even when their population has been on the wane. Government payrolls have jumped by four times as fast as the birth rate over the past decade.

Despite the rise of government payrolls, the competitiveness of the government sector has been falling. The World Economic Forum placed Korea at 108th in the level of regulation last year, down from 24th when President Lee took office in 2008. The nation was ranked at 111st last year in the degree of transparency in policymaking, down from 44th in 2008.

The country was at 84th in the impartiality of policymakers last year, down from 22nd in 2008. Its ranking fell to 71st last year in the degree of efficiency of budget spending, down from 33rd in 2008.

President Lee had vowed to privatize many government services. But only five government services have been privatized. Reform of public enterprises has been in limbo. The Lee administration has yet to complete the initial plan of slashing payrolls of state-controlled enterprises and agencies by 175,000 or 12.7 percent of the total work force.

The plan hit a snag as the jobless youth soared to as many as 1 million. The enlarged public sector may encroach upon private business.