Top 15 Groups Could Hire More Amid Recovery Signs

Major corporations will reduce hiring this year but could employ more in next year’s first half amid signs of economic recovery, a survey released yesterday said.

Thirteen of the country’s top 15 conglomerates plan to hire 14,355 entry-level workers over the rest of this year, down 3.1 percent from a year earlier, the survey said.

The poll was conducted jointly by The Dong-A Ilbo and online employment data provider Job Korea on the top 15 business groups in revenue, excluding state-run corporations.

Information on several conglomerates that will hire more workers this year but have yet to confirm details were included in the tally of planned job openings. One had no plan to hire this year while the other remained undecided.

Therefore, the number of new jobs for the rest of the year could exceed that of the same period last year depending on companies that have not yet set hiring quotas.

○ Eyeing recovery despite difficulty

The Doosan and STX groups will hire as many or more entry-level workers in the second half of this year as it did in the same period last year. They cited their participation in the government-led drive to create more jobs and preparation for economic recovery.

Doosan will hire 500 new workers in the second half, up about 10 percent from the same period last year. “Though it’s premature to say the economy is in recovery, we’ve decided to hire technological talent including engineers given the expected economic recovery in the first half of next year,” a group source said.

Telecom giant KT, which completed its merger with mobile telecommunications subsidiary KTF, will hire about 150 people after October, a figure similar to a year earlier.

○ Job growth likely

The Samsung Group, which recruited 2,100 entry-level workers in the first half of the year, will add 3,400 in the second half. The country’s top conglomerate, however, plans to hire 5,500 new workers this year, down from 7,500 last year.

The group could hire more than its target, however. Because it lifted its age limit for jobseekers, the number of applicants could rise sharply. Samsung is considering hiring more than planned if that number surges.

Many conglomerates have tentatively decided on the number of new recruits but final figures are pending. An LG Group source said, “Internally, we’ve decided to hire more than 1,000 people but have not set the number of workers and when.”

POSCO and Hyundai Heavy Industries also remain undecided on their final recruitment numbers for this year.

“The number of job offerings in the second half of this year will not increase noticeably because many big companies hired many workers in the first half under the government’s job creation campaign,” said Job Korea President Kim Hwa-soo. “It is possible that more jobs will become available in the first half of next year given that economic recovery is expected.”

alwaysj@donga.com