Why Sejong City’s No. 1 Salaries Don’t Look So Good

Sejong, the administrative capital, has firmly established itself as the city with the highest average annual salary. According to National Tax Service data, Sejong ranked first for the second consecutive year. Seoul came in second, and Ulsan third. Ulsan, which had long held the top spot as an industrial city, has now fallen to third place.

In 2018, Ulsan maintained its first-place ranking with the highest average annual salary per salaried worker at 43.10 million won. In 2019, Sejong took first place for the first time with 43.88 million won, while Ulsan reached only 43.51 million won. In 2020, Sejong rose further to 45.15 million won, pulling well ahead of Ulsan, which recorded 43.37 million won.

It is troubling that Sejong, an administrative city, has overtaken Ulsan, an industrial city, to become the top-ranked city. It symbolically shows the current state of our society, where businesses have lost vitality while the civil service is flourishing.

The image of public officials in Korea has generally been positive. Stories of those who worked quietly and devoted themselves under difficult circumstances are heartwarming. They were filled with a sense of mission to serve the people, solve difficult problems, and build a better country. In particular, the public showed respect for the legendary civil servants who led the miracle of economic growth.

The emergence of figures like Jae-ik Kim, who served as Senior Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs, is also regarded highly in historical terms. The fact that the civil service took the lead in moving toward a market economy laid the foundation for our society to rise to the level of an advanced economy. This becomes especially clear when compared with China, which still has not escaped the framework of a “command economy.”

In fact, Korea’s public officials are diligent, capable, and highly talented. They are second to none in any country. Even so, looking at the situation Korea now faces, one cannot help but wonder whether those outstanding people are truly playing their proper role.

It has already been 30 years since Korean companies began to lose their dynamism. In the late 1980s, regulations on large corporations were introduced through the Fair Trade Act, and after the 1997 foreign exchange crisis, corporate growth lost momentum.

The culture of encouraging corporate investment disappeared, and a culture that criminalizes those who run businesses took root. Countless laws were created to punish companies and businesspeople. Those seeking to move toward innovation shrank back, while competition grew fiercer among those seeking to divide up what already exists and secure a comfortable life.

Preference for civil service jobs is extremely high. That is because the privileges they offer are greater than in the private sector. Moreover, as the entrenched tendency in our society to revere officials and look down on ordinary citizens spreads once again, we are moving toward a “public official-favoring society.” The resulting harm is serious enough to raise concern that public officials and private citizens may become divided into separate social classes. The mindset that simply obeying the law is enough is deepening bureaucracy, and the bureaucratic world has accordingly fallen into competition to expand each ministry’s authority and influence.

Sejong is splendid, almost like a giant exhibition hall. Its impressive skyline, pleasant environment, and the sense that it has written a new history for a new city all reflect the level of our economy quite well. But something is missing there: the enterprising spirit and commercial vitality to reinvigorate our society.

When Sejong develops the functions of a city that gives people energy 24 hours a day, our society will once again be moving toward a bright future.

Sung-no Choi, President of the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: '연봉 1위' 세종시가 곱지않은 이유

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2021-12-27

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&idx=24472