Department of Defense Should Change Pay Setting for Korean Nationals

Gao ID: FPCD-77-69 September 30, 1977

The Department of Defense (DOD) employs about 23,000 Korean nationals in Korea who are paid more than the local wages.

DOD puts considerable effort into establishing employment practices in Korea that are fair to both U.S. government and the Korean national employees. However, there are certain aspects of compensation setting and administration in Korea that should be changed in order to bring wages and benefits paid more into line with local practices, improve procedures, and reduce costs. Because the wages that the United States pays its Korean employees generally exceed local wages, there is considerable savings potential in contracting out services now done by directly hired personnel. However, the manner in which Korean labor legislation is interpreted and applied to DOD precludes any savings from actually taking place.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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