Forty public agencies have so far agreed to an early implementation of the expanded performance-based wage system.

The Finance Ministry on Friday held a meeting to inspect the progress in the introduction of performance-based wage systems at public institutions.

The ministry said that 40 agencies including the Korea Electric Power Corporation concluded procedures to implement the system on an expanded scale whether through labor-management agreements or approval by the board of directors.

The figure is about a third of the 120 public firms and semi-government agencies to which the new wage rule is to be applied.

The ministry is reviewing whether to offer additional incentives to agencies that stand out in an assessment of the timetable and content of their performance-based wage system implementation.

The ministry will also slap penalties, such as cuts to labor cost hikes, to firms that have yet to adopt the wage rule.

It will devise concrete measures to this aim following deliberations next month by a steering committee.