Korea Post, the national postal service provider, will switch more than 2,000 contracted workers to permanent employees over four years starting next year, its report to a lawmaker said Monday.

The report, submitted to the ruling party's Rep. Lee Cheol-hee, said 2,252 temporary employees, including parcel and mail deliverers, will become public workers by 2022 through the plan. They will undergo paper screening and interviews, and be exempted from the status transfer if they do not meet the qualifications.

Korea Post has been using temporary hires, who by law are not public workers, since 1999 on instructions by the government to reduce the number of public servants following the foreign exchange crisis that deeply hurt the nation's economy. The policy was changed this year as the government encouraged quality jobs and equal treatment of workers who do the same type of tasks. A total of 748 temporary postal workers were switched to permanent positions early last month.

The report said Korea Post also plans to hire some 1,000 more workers by 2022. (yonhap)

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