Civil servant pension needs to be covered by 10 trillion won in taxes… ‘Snowball’ of loss after letting go

The Government Employees Pension Service is likely to request 10 trillion won in compensation, a sharp increase from the 2 trillion won range by 2020.

It is expected that the national compensation that will need to be invested in the civil servant pension next year will be around 10 trillion won, the largest amount ever. This is because while concerns about fund depletion are growing, the period of receiving civil servant pensions has increased due to the aging population. Four years ago, the National Assembly Budget Office predicted that the national conservation fund would be 10.7284 trillion won by 2045, but it is analyzed that the fiscal index is worsening every year and the size of the conservation fund has increased rapidly.

According to the Government Employees Pension Service on the 24th, the corporation decided to request about 10 trillion won in national compensation from the government for next year. A corporation official said, “The size of the compensation has not been confirmed yet,” and added, “It is quite possible that it will not exceed 10 trillion won.” It is reported that the Corporation plans to vote on the fund management plan and budget for applying for next year’s compensation at its internal board of directors meeting on the 26th.

Preservation funds are the amount that the state and local governments provide to make up for the deficit in civil servant pensions. It was created for the first time since the civil servant pension was depleted in 2001. The conservation money, which was first invested in 2001, steadily increased and remained at 2 trillion won from 2016 to 2020, but then surged to 5.1513 trillion won last year and 8.604 trillion won this year.

The reason for the growing deficit in the civil servant pension is that the number of retired bureaucrats is increasing and the number of pension recipients is also rapidly increasing. According to the corporation, the number of retired bureaucrats decreased slightly from 57,163 last year to 52,419 this year, and is expected to reach 61,186 next year. The number of pension recipients is estimated to increase from 633,721 last year to 673,704 this year and 696,428 next year. An official from the Ministry of Personnel Management explained, “The reason the government employee pension deficit is increasing is because the number of public officials receiving pensions has increased due to aging.”

Reporter Lee Chaewan [email protected]