Highest Proportion of Large Corporation Employees at 10.9%
Samsung Electronics 124,000, Hyundai Motor 72,000
Small and Medium Enterprise Employees Also Reach Record High of 25 Million
Last year, the number of employees working at large corporations exceeded 3 million for the first time ever. The proportion of large corporation employees among all employed persons also reached a record high of 10.9%.
According to Statistics Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 22nd, the number of employees at large corporations with 300 or more workers reached a record high of 3.087 million, an increase of 89,000 from the previous year. This is the first time the number of large corporation employees has surpassed 3 million since related statistics began being compiled in 2004. The upward trend has continued for six consecutive years from 2018 through last year.
In particular, the increase was greater during the COVID-19 period. The increase in the number of large corporation employees grew from 79,000 in 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak first occurred, to 143,000 in 2021, and further expanded to 182,000 in 2022. While small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are largely in face-to-face industries, struggled due to the spread of COVID-19, large corporations grew mainly in non-face-to-face sectors, which is analyzed as the reason for this result.
Among large corporations, Samsung Electronics had the largest employment scale, with 124,070 employees as of the end of June last year, an increase of 6,166 (5.2%) from a year earlier. This is also an increase of 19,026 (18.1%) compared to the end of June 2019, before COVID-19. Hyundai Motor Company had 71,520 employees as of the end of June last year, up 847 from a year earlier and 2,213 more than four years ago. The number of employees at major companies by market capitalization were as follows: Kia 35,438, LG Electronics 34,198, SK Hynix 32,217, Korean Air 17,839, LG Chem 14,821, Samsung SDI 12,161, LG Energy Solution 11,793, and Hyundai Mobis 11,754.
The proportion of large corporation employees among all employed persons last year was 10.9%, rising from 9.9% in 2020, surpassing 10% for the first time in 2021 (10.3%), then increasing to 10.7% in 2022, and nearly reaching 11% last year.
The number of employees at SMEs with fewer than 300 workers last year also reached a record high of 25.329 million, an increase of 238,000 from the previous year, similar to large corporations. SME employment decreased by 298,000 in 2020, the first year of COVID-19, but has shown a continuous increase since 2021. However, the proportion of SME employees among all employed persons last year was 89.1%, which was actually the lowest ever recorded. This is believed to be because the growth rate of employment at large corporations was higher than that of SMEs. The employment growth rate for large corporations last year was 3.0%, more than three times that of SMEs (0.9%).
Nominsun, a research fellow at the Small and Medium Business Research Institute, said, "There is a considerable possibility that employment polarization between large corporations and SMEs will occur after the second quarter this year," adding, "It is necessary to seek policy support that enables SMEs to actively engage in employment, such as strengthening support for SMEs that increase employment."
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