Gov't to amend law to make public sector layoffs easier

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- Amid a major overhaul of the public sector, the
government said on Monday it plans to revise job evaluation rules to allow
offices to more easily lay off "incompetent" ranking officials.

In a report to President Lee Myung-bak, the Ministry of Public Administration and
Security said it will introduce a new job evaluation system next year that will
allow the ministry's personnel committee to fire top officials who receive low
marks on more than one occasion.
Currently, those employees can only be fired if they receive the absolute lowest
score on their five-part job assessment report for two consecutive years,
according to the ministry.
The public sector has been frequently accused of sloppy management and
feet-dragging in reforms, and of causing losses that are passed on to taxpayers.
Revamping the public sector was one of President Lee's key campaign promises.
The ministry said it also plans to strengthen performance evaluations for mid-
and lower-tier officials while offering incentives and early promotions for
workers who receive "excellent" marks.
Meanwhile, in an effort to help the country cope with in economic downswing, the
ministry will front-load 60 percent of the government's 11.4 trillion (US$88.8
billion) budget in the first half of 2009. The boost in spending will be aimed at
creating 640,000 jobs during the period.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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