The FY 2012 Program Evaluation gives an overall assessment of how well fiscal programs functioned in fiscal year 2012 in preparation for a review of the FY 2012 Settlement of Accounts by the National Assembly. This report covered 33 topics—including key fiscal issues in national finance, major national projects, and projects run by several ministries—and classified them into three volumes, i.e. multi-ministerial programs, economic and industrial programs, and social programs. In the last four years, the National Assembly Budget Office evaluated the organization of the government’s performance plans and performance report. This year, we instead focused on major fiscal programs.
Social program evaluation reveals that the College Education Competence Enhancement Program (Ministry of Education) showed little improvement in various performance indicators. The National Scholarship Program (Ministry of Education) needs to be revisited, i.e. the Type I program, which grants scholarships to students whose family income level is in the lowest income quartile, needs to set different eligibility requirements by target group, and the Type II program, the funds of which are transferred to colleges, warrants abolishment. The College Education Competence Enhancement Program showed too little expenditure for enhancing the competence of professors and reforming the curriculum, which are vital for improving competence in education. With the exception of the college enrollment to capacity ratio, the averages of performance measures of colleges that receive the grant and of those that do not show little or no improvement as a result of the program. In the case of the National Scholarship Program, different eligibility requirements for the Type I program need to be set for each target group given the difference between the amount of scholarship and the actual tuition and the excessive disqualification rate due to the academic merit criteria. The Type II program has problems of equity and sustainability of the allocation criteria and needs to be thoroughly revisited so that it can be integrated with Type I or abolished.
The Successful Employment Support Package Program (Ministry of Employment and Labor), which is run by private enterprises on consignment, has operational issues, and the vocational training programs were ineffective. A high percentage of private consignment agreements, or 23.9%, were cancelled (63.5% of which were cancelled by consignees), negatively affecting the quality of services offered by private consignees. Also, the consignees offer vocational training programs that are not aligned with the needs of prospective employers. The Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance (Ministry of Employment and Labor) has a high non-subscription rate and its institutional design encourages the insured to cover up industrial accidents. In May 2013, 9.87 million of 25.40 million employed persons (38.9%) and 2.86 million of 18.39 million wage earners (15.6%) were non-subscribed to industrial accident insurance, including non-applicable cases. Because converted accident rates are considered when builders are screened to determine their eligibility to bid for government construction projects, general contractors naturally have a strong incentive to hide their industrial accidents to lower their accident rates and demand subcontractors to handle injuries suffered on the job.
It was found that the Health Insurance Program (Ministry of Health and Welfare) fails to provide sufficient insurance benefits, compelling households to assume the additional burden of private medical insurance. The program offers an inadequate medical safety net for the underprivileged. Many remain out of reach of the National Basic Livelihood Security Program (Ministry of Health and Welfare), which is fiscally strained by overuse of medical services by beneficiaries. Meanwhile, too few medical personnel and facilities have been secured to support public health and welfare programs for military personnel (Ministry of National Defense), and work needs to be done to reverse the deterioration in finances of welfare facilities. Of 2,449 army surgeons, only 105, or 4.3%, are employed for the long term, and this undermines confidence in the quality of military medical services.
Jeong Yuhoon
Social program evaluation reveals that the College Education Competence Enhancement Program (Ministry of Education) showed little improvement in various performance indicators. The National Scholarship Program (Ministry of Education) needs to be revisited, i.e. the Type I program, which grants scholarships to students whose family income level is in the lowest income quartile, needs to set different eligibility requirements by target group, and the Type II program, the funds of which are transferred to colleges, warrants abolishment. The College Education Competence Enhancement Program showed too little expenditure for enhancing the competence of professors and reforming the curriculum, which are vital for improving competence in education. With the exception of the college enrollment to capacity ratio, the averages of performance measures of colleges that receive the grant and of those that do not show little or no improvement as a result of the program. In the case of the National Scholarship Program, different eligibility requirements for the Type I program need to be set for each target group given the difference between the amount of scholarship and the actual tuition and the excessive disqualification rate due to the academic merit criteria. The Type II program has problems of equity and sustainability of the allocation criteria and needs to be thoroughly revisited so that it can be integrated with Type I or abolished.
The Successful Employment Support Package Program (Ministry of Employment and Labor), which is run by private enterprises on consignment, has operational issues, and the vocational training programs were ineffective. A high percentage of private consignment agreements, or 23.9%, were cancelled (63.5% of which were cancelled by consignees), negatively affecting the quality of services offered by private consignees. Also, the consignees offer vocational training programs that are not aligned with the needs of prospective employers. The Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance (Ministry of Employment and Labor) has a high non-subscription rate and its institutional design encourages the insured to cover up industrial accidents. In May 2013, 9.87 million of 25.40 million employed persons (38.9%) and 2.86 million of 18.39 million wage earners (15.6%) were non-subscribed to industrial accident insurance, including non-applicable cases. Because converted accident rates are considered when builders are screened to determine their eligibility to bid for government construction projects, general contractors naturally have a strong incentive to hide their industrial accidents to lower their accident rates and demand subcontractors to handle injuries suffered on the job.
It was found that the Health Insurance Program (Ministry of Health and Welfare) fails to provide sufficient insurance benefits, compelling households to assume the additional burden of private medical insurance. The program offers an inadequate medical safety net for the underprivileged. Many remain out of reach of the National Basic Livelihood Security Program (Ministry of Health and Welfare), which is fiscally strained by overuse of medical services by beneficiaries. Meanwhile, too few medical personnel and facilities have been secured to support public health and welfare programs for military personnel (Ministry of National Defense), and work needs to be done to reverse the deterioration in finances of welfare facilities. Of 2,449 army surgeons, only 105, or 4.3%, are employed for the long term, and this undermines confidence in the quality of military medical services.
Jeong Yuhoon