This research examines the effect of civil service examinations on college education with respect to national human resources development. The survey results revealed that 17.8 percent of college students was preparing for various kinds of civil service examinations, and college students in regional areas were twice more likely to become civil servants than those in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi province areas. College students showed high propensity to apply for a civil service examination if their father's occupation was managerial or a member of their families is a civil servant. Whether or not a student is preparing for a civil service examination does not seem to have any significant effect on his/her academic performance.
To analyze the effect of civil service examinations on human resources development, this study estimated the wage function, which included the dummy variable for civil service examination preparation among private sector workers. According to the estimation, the wage effect is negative for those who has prepared for a civil service examination for longer than 11 months. The result signifies that preparing for civil service examinations does not contribute to the formation of skills and knowledge needed in private sector. With some 300 thousand youths preparing for civil service examinations, it is necessary to improve the civil service examination system with consideration for attracting competent manpower to the public sector, and the spin-off effects on higher education and the labor market.