80 Percent of Enterprises, ``Hiring Freeze in Fourth Quarter``

Almost 80 percent of business firms do not have hiring plans or have not made recruit plans for the fourth quarter.

The business survey index (BIS), which provides the prediction of the firms` employment variations, marks the lowest level since the second quarter of 1999.

According to the Ministry of Labor`s survey, only 20.2 percent (858) firms, among 4,253 firms employing more than five employees, have hiring plans in the fourth quarter. 68.6 percent (2916) companies have no hiring plans, and 11.2 percent (479) companies have not set up their recruit plans.

Moreover, 80.4 percent of the firms that have hiring plans are for the replacement of retired employees. By contrast, only 12.1 percent and 4.4 percent companies were increased their operations and expanded facilities and equipment.

The result implies that high school and college graduates will face the tightest job market even for the fourth quarter, in which new hiring is concentrated.

For the hiring plan by each industry, the manufacturing industry reported the highest rate (30.3 percent) ▲ construction industry (16.2 percent) ▲ food and lodging industry (26.2 percent) ▲ transportation, warehousing, and communication businesses (23.5 percent) ▲ wholesale and retail businesses (21.3 percent) ▲ real estate business (18.9 percent). The financial companies show the lowest hiring plans (8.1 percent). A ministry official said, ``This poll was surveyed on Sep. 9th, before the terror attacks in America, thus, the actual job market situation will be worse than the result of the poll because economic slump is intensifying after the terror accident.``

leej@donga.com