BOK says half of manufacturing firms to hire recruits next year

About half of South Korea's manufacturing firms have hiring plans next year, the central bank said in a report Monday.

The Bank of Korea said 52 percent of 279 firms across the country said they plan to hire new recruits next year and among them, 38.9 percent said they will increase the number of recruits in 2018 compared with this year.

By sector, 52.6 percent of information technology firms said they could hire more people in the new year vis-a-vis 2017. On the other hand, 10.5 percent of IT companies hinted they may cut the number of new recruits next year.
 

The BOK said 25 percent of petrochemical and refinery firms said the number of new workers could rise more than 10 percent next year from this year.

The BOK surveyed 279 manufacturing firms -- 101 big companies and 178 small and medium-sized firms -- between Aug. 14 and Sept. 4 to determine their hiring outlook next year.

The business survey index of manufacturing firms came to 83 for September, up from 78 in August, the BOK said last month. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists, while a reading above the benchmark means the opposite. (Yonhap)