4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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1) civil servant employment of the disabled
The exclusive quota system for the disabled was first introduced in the open competitive examination to recruit Grade 9 public servants for the year 1989. As the second phase of implementation, the system was extended to include the exam for Grade 7 in 1996. The quota is 6 percent of all new employment in the public sector (186 out of 2,900 openings as of 2013). However, it was pointed out that those who benefitted from this system were disproportionate to the people with relatively light disability. In order to overcome this limitation, a separate exam started in 2008 which is open exclusively to people with severe disability. It is helping the severely disabled with diverse experience to work in government.
To successfully execute the new system, the Ministry adopted a phased approach: first, in order to encourage employment of the disabled at different public organization, it made necessary amendment to the current legislation; then the Ministry actively looked for positions that may be filled with the disabled in different parts of the government, which could achieve employment exceeding the target of 3% in government. The efforts go beyond employment. Through regular meetings and personalized consultations to handle job difficulties, the Ministry is providing all-out support their adaption.
2) For the low income class
As of 2011, 2.9 percent of the total Korean population is eligible for the basic livelihood protection payments, and the number of single-parent families is also on the rise. As part of proactive welfare efforts for these low income families to improve and help rebuilding their livelihood, a separate quota system for low income families was introduced in 2009 for Grade 9 open competitive examination. Since then, at least 1% of the annual new public servants are hired from the low income class. As Research found that the employees hired through this system show high performance, a plan is currently under consideration to adjust the quota to 2% of the total new openings.
3) Gender equality
In order to ensure balanced employment of both genders in public service, the government has implemented a target-based gender equality system in employment. If the number of either gender is smaller than 30 percent of all successful applicants, additional applicants of the gender are hired on top of the originally planned new recruitments to meet the target ratio, provided their exam score exceeds a preset level. The employment targets and performances are reviewed every five years for possible adjustment ratio.
4) National balance in employment
Korea is composed of 17 provinces. However, most of higher education institutes are clustered around the capital city, which inevitably resulted in a talent imbalance, heavily tilted in favor of the capital areas. Under the circumstances, there were concerns that the public servant organization is likely to be composed of people from the capital areas. To achieve regional balance within the government organization, the employment target system for the provincial college graduates was introduced in 2007. Out of all successful applicants of public service employment exam, if graduates of colleges located in non-capital areas take up less than the target employment rate of 20%, additional number of provincial college graduates is hired.
5) Employment of North Korean defectors
Starting in 2012, employment in public service is expanded for North Korean defectors and people from multicultural families in order to support their financial independence and to promote social cohesion. The government is making active efforts to identify official positions that may be better filled with the North Korean defector group and people from multicultural families to increase their representation.
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5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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1) Government ministries
The Ministry of Health and Welfare is in charge of establishing policies for stable employment of the disabled and low income families. In particular, the ministry is entrusted with the responsibility of implementing positive welfare by expanding their employment opportunities in the public sphere. The Ministry of Education is also a stakeholder in that it is charged with nurturing colleges by distributing competitiveness of higher education to provinces from the central region, as well as finding and hiring local talents to civil service.
2) Public Institution
"Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled" is a public institution dedicated to boosting and mediating employment of the disabled. Its operations include placement service, vocational training, and auxiliary engineering assistance. The Agency is assisting this initiative by providing vocational training in the civil service areas where the disabled may not be put at a disadvantage.
3) Association
As public servant recruiment is an important part of personnel administration, whenever a change is sought and introduced, the government consults with "The Korean Association for Public Administration" and "The Korean Society for Public Personnel Administration" to perfect the systems.
4) Local colleges and faculty members
With the economic, social and cultural gaps between the central and provincial areas are widening, one of the biggest cause is considered the unbalanced distribution of the talented human resources. Colleges located in provincial areas have deep interest in expansion of employment opportunities for their students with the aim of enhancing competitiveness of the school and helping their job-seeking graduates.
5) Others
It is an important social value to achieve diversity of human resources in civil service proportionate to representation of different groups within the society. Therefore, NGOs including the disabled and women’s groups show great interest in enhancing employment opportunities in public service.
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6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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Foundation built with revision of relevant legislation without additional budget expense
The Balanced Civil Service System for the Social Minorities does not require any special budget. The exams are administered according to the original principles such as capacity and merits of candidates, and all the change that was needed was additional hiring based on the target ratio, or applications are separately received for a particular group. Slight alteration in the way the existing system is operated was enough to make big impact. The system was implemented through amendment of relevant legislations without using financial resources separately set aside.
Still, the most significant amount of efforts was put into building a social consensus on introduction of the the Balanced Civil Service Employment System for Social Minorities. The Ministry of Security and Public Administration, in charge of civil servant employment, vigorously sought cooperation with relevant government ministries, social groups and experts in private sectors to introduce a balanced employment system to select talented resources from the socially vulnerable. It also consulted with a wide spectrum of views from the general public to create a social consensus.
In particular, there were concerns raised that introducing a separate recruitment system for minority groups may reduce the total number of openings available for open competitive employment system that select successful applicants based on capacity and merit. Concerns were raised that the system may be faced with strong resistance from civil servant hopefuls. A lot of efforts have been put into building a social consensus and persuading them by minimizing the impact on the number of available slots for general civil servant exam and introducing various systems.
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7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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1) Increase employment of the disabled
After a separate recruitment was introduced to widen the door of civil servant to the physically disabled, the average employment rate of them at government has reached 3.2%, which exceed the mandatory employment rate(3%) set forth in the Act on Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation for Disabled Persons. It's not just people with minor disabilities: the government hires separately the severely disabled. Every year, an average 30 people with severe disabilities are selected as civil servants.
2) Increase employment of the low income class
As of 2011, the people under the government basic livelihood protection program represent 2.9 percent of the total population in Korea, and there is a growing number of single-parent families. As part of positive welfare plan for those, the government introduced a separate recruitment system by assigning 1 percent of the total openings for the Grade 9 exam to the low income class in 2009. For the first 3 years, the number of new recruits stood at around 20 persons. The quota has been extended to 41 in 2012 and 62 in 2013.
3) Enhanced gender balance in civil service
In order to provide a fair opportunity of becoming civil servants for all genders, a gender equality employment target system was temporarily introduced in 2003. Through the system, a total of 192 applicants (18 men and 174 women) passed the civil service exam in addition to the pre-assigned openings. As a result, women's ratio in public servant is up to 42.7% and women administrator's ratio is 12.2%. This initiative has resolved gender discrimination.
4) More balanced provincial representation in civil service
In 2007, a local talent employment target system was introduced with an aim of alleviating the severe imbalances manifest in various areas between the capital and provinces as an affirmative action for the graduates of colleges and universities located in the provinces. From 2007 to 2012, a total of 24 applicants were additionally accepted in Grade 5 civil servant exam. The system has contributed to growing the provincial representation(i.e., the balance between urban and rural areas) in the government.
5) Increased employment of North Korean defectors
The number of North Korean defectors residing in Korea stands at 25,000 as of now. Among them, 150 has been hired as civil servants or administrative assistance staff as part of government effort to help them assimilate to the South Korean society.
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8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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1) Collection of statistics and analysis of equal employment performance and self-assessment
Every year, the Ministry of Security and Administration collect personnel statistics on a regular basis to monitor and evaluate the employment status and recruitment results of each government branch. The data collected include not just new recruits, promotions, transfers and other basic personnel information but also the male to female ratio of different organizations, for one thing. If representation by women is low in a particular organization, the ministry encourages more hiring. It is also monitoring the employment status of the disabled and low income class.
The Ministry of Security and Administration is authorized to audit the personnel management states of all government organizations, and issue a correction a corrective order for any non-compliance. With the authority, the ministry is reviewing the employment statistics of the social minorities and personnel support programs for them.
2) Support for job adaptation and performance
After employment, the disabled, women and local talents are asked to respond to a survey about work environment and conditions. Along with this, a regular meeting is organized annually with them to provide support tailored to the characteristics of the target groups of balanced employment so that they can adapt and cope with the workplace.
3) Progress monitoring system utilizing the portal system
The Ministry has built a portal system(www.gosi.go.kr) and offered all of the related information about public servant recruiment exam, such as the announcement, application received, opening the correct answer and gathering of public opinion in one place.
The Ministry also inform people of the information about recruitment of the women, disabled, low income class every year being evaluated. In addition to institution-building, such as the online public hearing after public consultation aimed to monitor the progress of a project.
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9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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1) Concerns about the number of employment
In Korea, most public officials are filled through open competition, the number of available slots for a given year is often a matter of national interest. The average competition ratio for exam easily tops one to 100. Under the circumstances, the idea of introducing a separate examination for social minorities raised a concern that it may result to reduction of available slots of the open competition. So it faced with a strong resistance. To alleviate possible opposition, the system was managed with subtle alterations for different groups: in the case of local talent employment, a target-based employment system was introduced by hiring additional number of candidates from province if they meet certain criteria. Also, the government opted for a phased approach when adopting the balances civil service employment system, which helped build a national consensus in the process.
2) Lack of promotion for the balanced employment system
When the employment system for the social minorities was first introduced, public awareness was still much lower than the open competition. To enhance public awareness of the new employment opportunity, the government launched a proactive promotion campaign by making many visits to potential target group with civil service job fairs. A comprehensive campaign was conducted on various channels including TV programs and advertisements in Bus or subway.
3) Lack of cooperation of public institutions
As the balances civil service employment system may be considered an exception to the principle of merit-based employment, many ministries were often reluctant to run the system citing reasons such as the number of new recruits being not suitable to their organizational needs and the burden of resource management. The government served as a model employer to set an example by introducing and running the service proactively.
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