About 97,000 public-sector non-regulars to be offered ‘indefinite contract’


About 97,000 non-regular workers in the public sector will be given greater job security next year, under a plan unveiled Monday by the ruling Grand National Party and the Labor Ministry.

The 110-billion-won plan, part of a bigger program to support the ballooning number of non-regulars, envisages government agencies and state-run institutions promoting some of their non-regular employees to “indefinite contract” staff.

Indefinite contract workers are guaranteed employment until retirement as long as their job exists. They are also entitled to various benefits and bonus payments just like permanent workers.

“The government must take an initiative in solving the issue of non-regular workers. It has to become a role model for private companies,” GNP’s chief policymaker Rep. Lee Ju-young told reporters at the National Assembly, after a government-ruling party policy coordination meeting.

Labor Minister Lee Chae-pil said his agency will strive to “spread the movement beyond the public sector in order to stem discrimination against non-regulars at workplaces.”

About 340,000 Koreans are currently working in the public sector in non-regular types of employment, such as temporary, part-time and subcontract.

The unveiled plan will benefit about 97,000 who have been employed for more than two years and with jobs that are full-time and constant.

“Who will be promoted to the indefinite contract status will be decided after a review of their job,” explained Jo Jae-jung, a labor ministry official.

The change in employment status does not immediately affect the level of their salary, but they will be entitled to a raise based on the duration of their employment, like regular workers, he added.

The move is the latest in a series of governmental efforts to be seen to be improving people’s livelihoods, including expanded public spending on welfare programs and the scrapping of planned tax cuts for high income earners and big business ahead of major elections next year.

According to the state-run Statistics Korea, the total number of non-regular workers stands at 5.99 million as of the end of August, accounting for 34.2 percent of the country’s workforce.

Different data from the Korea Labor Institute showed that half of non-regulars were employed for less than six months, earning about half the wages of regular staff during that time.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)