The government is considering setting up a new category in the national civil service examination, one that requires specialized knowledge in the digital sector such as information processing technology, according to sources.
The move is aimed at accelerating the digitization of administrative procedures by securing specialized personnel for a digital agency, scheduled to be established in September next year, as well as for other ministries and agencies.
The category is planned to be introduced in the examination in fiscal 2022, which screens national civil servants who will start working in April 2023. The government hopes to select a maximum of a few dozen recruits who are familiar with such matters as cybersecurity and building information systems.
About 170 college and graduate school graduates are hired every year under the engineering category. Part of the number allocated for the engineering category is likely to be transferred to the new digital sector category, the sources said.
The government will soon include the new classification of categories in the national civil service exams in its process chart for the digitization of administrative procedures, which will be compiled soon.
Currently, there are 11 categories in the national civil service exam for college graduate-level recruits. The new category will be the first addition since fiscal 2012, when the exam was reorganized to its present form.
Government officials in charge of digital-related issues currently receive about 10,000 yen of extra pay per month in salary. The government is also considering to increase this amount.
Focused efforts in hiring are planned because of a shortage of personnel who are well-versed in digital-related issues, as skilled workers are offered better pay and working conditions at tech firms and other entities. This discrepancy has contributed to the government's sluggish response in digitization efforts.
Competition to secure talented workers in the digital field is becoming fierce. Hitachi Ltd. established a new hiring system wherein new recruits will be directly assigned to digital-related research and development teams, for those who start working in fiscal 2021.
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