Nearly 60% of major Korean companies have no immediate hiring plans in H2

Some 57.5 percent of major corporations in South Korea have either not set up plans to recruit new employees in the second half of this year or do not plan to hire at all, a survey showed Thursday.

In a recent survey of the top 500 companies by sales, 40 percent said they do not yet have plans to hire college graduates while 17.5 percent said they are not looking for recruits. The poll was conducted on Aug. 5-19 by local pollster Research and Research, under the commission of the Federation of Korean Industries.

The percentage of companies with recruitment plans increased from 35.4 percent to 42.5 percent compared to the same survey conducted in the same period last year. But the percentage of companies set to hire no new employees out of college also increased from 16.6 percent to 17.5 percent.

The percentage of undecided companies went from 48 percent in 2023 to 40 percent in 2024, leaving it unclear whether the job market prospect for H2 this year will improve from last year.

"Companies in recent years have been opting to flexibly adjust the period and size of their recruitment, instead of hiring a fixed number of people in a set period," the FKI said about the report.

When asked why they would not hire new recruits, 23.8 percent of the companies said they are reducing spending to respond to potential uncertainties in management or reduced profit. Another 20 percent cited a prolonged economic downturn, while 17.5 percent said they are having difficulty procuring potential employees with the necessary skills to carry out their duties.

In a separate January survey by the Korea Enterprises Federation, around 57.5 percent of the top 500 companies replied they would hire about the same number of college graduates as last year. Only 14.7 percent said they planned to hire more new employees than last year.