The number of jobs in the public sector reached an all-time high in 2022 as the government created more positions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday.

A total of 2.88 million people were employed by the public sector in 2022, up 1.4 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The 2022 reading marked the highest level since 2016, when the agency began compiling related data.

Hiring in the public sector has been on a constant increase from 2.6 million in 2019 to 2.76 million in 2020 and 2.84 million in 2021, though the growth has slowed for the second year in a row in 2022.

Those working in the public field accounted for 10.2 percent of all employed in 2022, down 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier, and it marked the first time that the share logged an on-year fall.

Some 85.6 percent of the total public jobs were for the government, and positions in state-run companies took up 14.4 percent, the data showed.

By industry, jobs in the public administration,
defense and social security fields accounted for 48.3 percent of the total in 2022, or the largest share, followed by the education service field with 27.2 percent and the health and social welfare service sector with 4 percent.

“Jobs in public health care and other pandemic-related positions had fallen in 2022 compared with a year earlier, while more people were hired in the education service sector,” an agency official said.

By age, people in their 40s accounted for the biggest share with 26.6 percent, followed by those in their 30s and 50s with 24.7 percent and 24.1 percent, respectively, the data showed.

Source: Yonhap News Agency