South Korean large corporations increase second-half hiring plans

A survey by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) reveals that 51.2% of South Korea's top 500 companies plan to conduct new graduate recruitment in the second half of the year. This marks a significant increase from the 37.2% reported in the same period last year.

Among companies with established plans, 50% intend to maintain their current hiring scale, while 24.2% plan to increase it and 25.8% plan to reduce it. However, economic recovery remains uneven across sectors. Industries such as wholesale and retail, construction, and logistics show more cautious attitudes, with more than half of the companies in these sectors reporting no plans or undecided recruitment schedules.

Regarding recruitment methods, 54.9% of companies intend to use a combination of open recruitment and rolling recruitment. When selecting new employees, companies identified “organizational fit” (23.4%) as the most important factor, followed by job experience and general job competencies. To encourage more hiring, businesses cited the need for regulatory easing, expanded tax and financial incentives for companies that increase employment, and greater flexibility in labor systems.