Once-coveted state jobs are losing their hold on young Koreans

Jobs at Korea’s state-run companies were among the most coveted in the country, providing so much stability that people called them “God’s workplaces.” But that pull is fading. The pay, which no longer keeps pace with the private sector or compensates for the inconveniences related to working far from Seoul, is pushing employees out in growing numbers.

Voluntary resignations, or departures by workers who quit of their own accord rather than retiring or taking a buyout, rose over the past five years at six of the country’s 10 largest public corporations by assets, data submitted to the office of People Power Party Rep. Kim Wi-sang showed on Tuesday.

The steepest climb came among junior staff in their 20s and 30s with fewer than 10 years of service.

One worker in their 30s left a state-run company after five years in 2025, moving to a private conglomerate despite the prestige of their old job. They had been worn down by the comparatively low pay, heavy workload and strict office culture.

“Working in the provinces, far from my family home in Seoul, was also hard,” the worker said. “I decided to change jobs because I felt that once I had more years [at the company] behind me, I would no longer be able to make the move.”

The trend is noticeably affecting companies that run the country’s electricity, water, housing and train systems.

In fact, voluntary resignations at the Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) nearly doubled from 313 in 2021 to 602 last year — an increase of 92.3 percent. Total departures rose only 10.8 percent, from 1,601 to 1,774, over the same period, with employees aged 30 or under comprising 579, or 32.6 percent, of last year’s departures. That figure is more than double their share in 2021, when 282, or 17.6 percent, left.

The pattern repeated at the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH). Voluntary resignations rose from 202 in 2021 to 246 last year, meaning their share of all departures climbed from 35.3 percent to 42 percent, respectively. Departures among those who left within a year of joining the company rose from 25 to 62, about two-and-a-half times as many.

At the Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water), resignations among staff with 10 years of service or less grew from 158 to 191, accounting for 45.8 percent and 52.5 percent, respectively, of all departures.

The trend was also prevalent at Korea’s big energy companies. Voluntary resignations rose from 109 in 2021 to 160 last year at the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco); 75 to 136 at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP); and 11 to 20 at the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC). In other words, 2 to 3 out of every 10 employees who left during that period had resigned by choice.

The throughline in the resignations is the pay. New hires who started at the 10 companies this year earned salaries ranging from 38.65 million to 52.63 million won ($25,150 to $34,250), according to figures from Alio, the government’s public-institution disclosure system. And once bonuses, the pace of raises and differences in pay by role are factored in, the public sector no longer holds the commanding edge that it once did.

College graduates joining Korea’s largest private companies, or those with 500 or more employees, earn an average salary of $55,161 in terms of purchasing power parity, the Korea Enterprises Federation found in a report in February.

“Major private firms such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have been paying performance bonuses on top of wages, which can lead to growing discontent among employees in the public sector,” said Im Tobin, a professor at the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University. “Young, capable employees leaving could become a factor that weakens [state-run] companies’ competitiveness.”

An official at one public company headquartered outside the capital echoed the concern.

“Ours is a field in which expertise matters, but because we are located in the provinces, we find it difficult to attract talent,” the official said. “I can feel our capabilities falling behind those of private companies more and more, and that worries me a great deal.”

Alongside the pay, geography is another deterrent. Staff are often required to rotate through offices around the country, and most headquarters sit far from Seoul. Of the 10 biggest public corporations, only Incheon International Airport Corporation is based in the greater Seoul area. Korail has been headquartered in Daejeon since its founding. The other eight — Kepco, LH, Korea Expressway Corporation, KHNP, Korea Gas Corporation, K-water, KNOC and Korea Midland Power — all moved out of the capital region years ago.

Another official at a public company outside the capital said that younger staff now leave far sooner than they once did.

“In the past, people didn’t walk away easily from a public company that they had worked hard to join, but lately, many are deciding to quit within five years,” the official said. “Unmarried younger employees often view the constant moving […] as a downside.”

The official added that scrapping the commuter shuttle system to the greater Seoul area likely played an additional part.

A worker in their 30s at a public institution headquartered in North Gyeongsang is wrestling with the decision to leave.

“Early in our marriage, [my wife and I found] living apart during the week to be manageable, but that changed after our child was born,” the worker said. “We need to keep both incomes, but I can see how hard it is on my wife to raise our child alone for most of the week, so I’m contemplating changing jobs.”

Critics also point to growing side effects from a hiring rule introduced eight years ago. Public institutions must fill a set share of new positions with “local talent,” or graduates from schools in their respective region. A 2024 report by the National Assembly Research Service found the rule has funneled recruitment toward only a handful of universities.

At Kepco, for instance, 59 percent of graduates hired as local talent from 2018 to 2023 came from Chonnam National University alone. At LH, 67 percent came from Gyeongsang National University.

“When an organization’s makeup is concentrated in particular universities, it breeds factions inside the institution and, in the end, is likely to erode the quality of public services,” the research service said.

One former public company employee felt shut out.

“The sense of exclusion that you felt if you weren’t a local hire from the region was stressful to manage,” the employee said.

“To recruit people genuinely attached to a region, you have to look at things such as whether they lived there through elementary, middle and high school,” Prof. Im said. “A system that rewards someone simply for graduating from a university in the region does nothing for public companies’ competitiveness.”

“The government needs to fix the rigid pay structure and working conditions at public institutions and create incentives so that talent keeps coming in and putting down roots,” PPP lawmaker Kim said.

BY NAM SOO-HYUN [[email protected]]