3,000 New Workers for National Tax Service

The National Tax Service (NTS) is expected to recruit around 3,000 workers (grade 7 and 9 public servants), whose works include the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), by the first half of next year. For this reason, campus recruiting campaigns will be held by the NTS soon.

The Korean government held a presidential meeting on July 10 at Cheong Wa Dae to approve a NIS reorganization plan following the forthcoming introduction of the EITC. Under the plan, a new department within the NTS to support earned income businesses will be launched, and 1,992 people will be newly employed.

The NTS will hire, in a separate move to make up for vacancies after incumbent workers’ retirement, 2,700 new employees (grade 9) from the second half of this year to early next year.

When regular recruitment occurs next year (grade 7), a total of 3,000 people will be hired by the NTS. About 1,300 public servants (grade 9) will be mobilized in the second half of this year and about 1,400 early next year. Those over 18 to 28 are eligible for the position of grade 9, and those 20 to 35 are eligible for grade 7.

The EITC is a plan to support households with less than 17 million won annual income by providing cash grants for as much as 800 thousand won. The plan will cover around 310 thousand households by 2009, expanding eventually to up to 1.5 million households by 2014.

In the meantime, the presidential meeting goers also approved plans to recruit new workers: 113 workers for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 35 for Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, and 5 for Ministry of Finance and Economy. The current recruitment plan will hire 2,145 new public officials (including the NTS’s 1,992).

The move is creating concern that the administration is up-sizing right at the end of the president’s term.

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