Meanwhile, women are increasingly accounting for a bigger portion of the workforce at the regional government level. (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, June 27 (Korea Bizwire) – The average age of civil servants at the local government level rose, and the number of female employees nearly doubled, data showed Sunday.
According to data released by the Ministry of the Interior on the general statistics of civil servants in the country’s provincial governments, their average age in 2015 stood at 43.4, up 4.8 years from 38.6 in 1995.
The percentage of people below 30 decreased to 9.9 percent of the total from 25.5 percent in 1995, while those for people over 50 increased to 26.3 percent from 13.9 percent.
The trend is attributed to the abolishment in 2009 of the age limit in applying for the state-run test to become a civil servant, extension of retirement in 2009 for mid-level civil servants and an unstable job market that is forcing more educated people to seek jobs in the government.
Reflecting this, among the local government officials, the number of university graduates with a master’s degree rose significantly to 22,336 last year from 3,607 in 1995 and that with a bachelor’s degree also increased to 230,909 from 107,203.
Meanwhile, women are increasingly accounting for a bigger portion of the workforce at the regional government level.
The total number rose a whopping 83.3 percent over the past two decades to 99,865 from 54,472, taking up 33.7 percent of the total. Women have accounted for more than 50 percent of all new hirings since 2005, during which more men retired, accelerating the trend. Last year, women made up 52.2 percent of new hires, and among those that retired, only 22.1 percent were women.
More women are increasingly taking on managerial jobs within local governments, with the total in such positions reaching 2,535 last year, from just 604 two decades ago.
By region, the rate of female servants turned out to be higher in small cities and counties, rising to 82.4 percent, while the rate remained relatively low in bigger metropolitan governments and provinces at 17.6 percent.
(Yonhap)
