Pension Reform and Employee Satisfaction With the Public Service Profession: Evidence From the 2015 Public Officials Pension Reform in South Korea

While pension reforms for public employees are implemented frequently around the world, there is still limited understanding of how these employees respond to and adapt to such changes. Utilizing the 2015 Public Officials Pension Reform in South Korea as the research context, this study investigates the impact of pension reform on employee satisfaction with the public service profession during the reform period and how this impact evolved in the post-reform years. Drawing on yearly repeated cross-sectional data from 15,270 public employees collected between 2013 and 2019, our empirical analysis reveals a significant decline in employee satisfaction with the public service profession following the initiation of pension reform in 2014, with a subsequent rebound to pre-reform levels in the later years. These findings offer valuable insights for navigating the challenges of pension reform and enhancing employee satisfaction during the reform process.