Disabled account for over 3% of civil servants

Disabled people accounted for more than 3 percent of the total number of civil servants, higher than the mandatory hiring quota for the disabled, ministry officials said Wednesday, as the government is pushing to expand recruitment of people with disabilities.

According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the number of disabled people working for the government reached 4,665, or 3.2 percent, out of a total 168,146 public officials nationwide as of late 2011.

The figure exceeds the 3 percent quota set by the country to help boost employment of the disabled population.

The government has been working to increase the country's recruitment of the disabled, offering civil service examinations set exclusively for those with disabilities since 1989.

This year, 26 disabled people were employed as civil servants through a separate recruitment process, first implemented in 2008, which is intended for hiring people with severe disabilities including physical disabilities, visual impairment, and brain lesions.

Also, the ministry said it has set up a special curriculum for 19 of the severely disabled public officials who were hired this year to help them get adjusted to their jobs, adding that it will try to best reflect the public officials' needs and opinions in its policies and training programs.

"We will work to expand employment of not only those with physical disabilities but also the disabled population in general," said Jeon Choong-ryeol, a human resources department director at the ministry. (Yonhap)