Next Year's Public Institution Evaluations to Change... Performance on Local Economy and Talent to Be Assessed

Ministry of Finance and Economy to Revise Management Evaluation Manual in December
Expected to Include Local Business Investment, Procurement, and Local Talent Recruitment

In next year's public institution management evaluations, the degree of contribution to regional areas—such as revitalizing local economies and hiring local talent—is expected to be strengthened as a key assessment factor.

Heo Jang, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, attended the "Public Institution Youth Intern Meeting" at Post Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul on July 21, delivering a congratulatory speech. Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

The Ministry of Finance and Economy has decided to revise the management evaluation manual this December to encourage public institutions to play a greater role in regional economic revitalization and expand the hiring of local talent. While the specific indicators and scores will be finalized in the future, a direction has been set to more directly reflect contributions to the local economy and the recruitment of regional talent in the management evaluation process.

The most notable change is in the area of recruiting local talent. Currently, public institutions relocated to non-capital regions are required to hire a certain legal minimum percentage of local talent among new recruits. Going forward, the evaluation may examine not only whether these legal requirements are met, but also how much the recruitment of local talent has expanded and how effectively institutions have strengthened connections between local universities and local talent. If the evaluation scope is broadened to include not only the number of hires but also the continued employment and retention of local talent, as well as recruitment linkage programs with regional universities, this is expected to bring considerable changes to human resource operations at public institutions.

In the area of regional economic revitalization, the core assessment will be how much practical economic impact public institutions have generated in their regions. For example, criteria may include purchasing products from local SMEs, contracting with local suppliers, joint projects with local enterprises, investment and R&D for fostering local industries, and expanding business operations within the region. Especially since there has been criticism that public institutions have remained loosely connected to the local economy even after relocating their headquarters outside of Seoul, the essence of this reform is to steer these agencies toward "spending money and creating jobs in the community" rather than being just "institutions that simply relocated their address."

This reform is also aligned with the second phase of public institution relocations. This reflects the determination that simply relocating public bodies does not sufficiently revitalize the regional economy, and management evaluations will be used to continuously monitor the actual impact of the relocation. Whereas previous management evaluations placed relatively more weight on financial soundness, management efficiency, and key business results, the assessment scope is now expanding to examine "how the institution's achievements have translated into effects on the region." In this year's public institution evaluations, there was already an emphasis on substantive outcomes in key projects as well as innovation and safety. The feature of next year's reform is the addition of a new pillar evaluating contributions to the local economy and the hiring of local talent. However, it has yet to be decided how precisely these contributions will be measured, or how many points they will be allocated in the overall evaluation.

Previously, during the Public Institution Youth Intern Meeting he chaired on July 21, 2026, Heo Jang, Second Vice Minister, remarked, "In this era of sweeping transformation through artificial intelligence (AI), public institutions must go beyond their role as mere employers to become reliable stepping stones that help young people plan their futures." He continued, "To this end, public institutions should strengthen job training, including AI utilization, through youth intern programs to enhance young people's employability, and, in partnership with local enterprises and universities, offer a variety of work experiences and employment opportunities to youth, thus playing a central role in leading the regional job ecosystem." An official from a public enterprise added, "For public agencies, there is now a strong possibility that they will be required to demonstrate a level of substantial contribution to the local economy that goes beyond simply meeting legal obligations."

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