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  • 2021-08-17 (xsd:date)
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  • South Korea does not employ more public workers than US, Japan (en)
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  • Facebook posts have widely shared the claim that South Korea employs more government workers than the United States and Japan. However, the claim is false. The figures cited in the posts are inconsistent with official data released by the three countries. The comparison is also neither scientific nor very meaningful, according to a public administration expert. The Republic of Korea going crazy, reads a Korean-language Facebook post from August 6. US population: 320 million. Government employees: 800,000. Japan population: 120 million. Government employees: 300,000. S Korea population: 52 million. Government employees: 1 million. But cowhead says this isn't enough and wants to increase it. Cowhead is a slur used to refer to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to this local report. Screenshot of the misleading post. Captured August 10, 2021. Similar Facebook posts shared an identical claim here , here , here and here . However, this claim is false. The United States More than two million people work for the US federal government, not 800,000 as the misleading posts claim. A report published in June 2021 by the US Congressional Research Service shows there were around 2.1 million civilian employees in the US federal workforce in 2020, based on data collected by the White House Office of Management and Budget. The US Office of Personnel Management's data on historical changes of the federal workforce size shows that the number of federal government workers has fluctuated around 2 million since the end of World War II. In addition, 15 million full-time and 4.7 million part-time workers were on state and local government payrolls in the fiscal year of 2020, according to the US Census Bureau . Japan The misleading post's claim that Japan employs 300,000 workers in government is also inconsistent with official data. The Japanese government employed around 3.3 million workers as of January 2020, according to a report by Japan's National Personnel Authority. This includes both national public employees who work in central government agencies and local government employees, the agency says. South Korea South Korea's government employs 1.1 million workers, including around 736,000 work at national level and 370,000 at local level, according to data from the Ministry of Interior and Safety. Directly comparing the number of government employees in the country with the United States and Japan is neither scientific nor very meaningful, according to Professor Kang In-seong of Soongsil University's School of Public Administration. To make a proper comparison, the administrative standards used by these governments must be identical, Kang told AFP on August 17. But the United States and Japan have different political and administrative systems than South Korea. (en)
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