Large Corporations Show 'Sanghu Habak' Workforce Trend: Executives Increase While Employees Decrease

Executives increased by 2.1% compared to 2022
Meanwhile, non-executive employees decreased by 0.1% during the same period
Total number of employees declined

Last year, the number of employees at major domestic conglomerates decreased while the number of executives increased. Naturally, the ratio of employees per executive also declined.

Changes in the Number of Employees per Executive by Industry [Source=Leaders Index]

According to Leaders Index, a corporate analysis research institute, among the top 500 companies by sales, an analysis of the number of non-registered executives and employees at 337 companies with comparable data from the previous year showed that there were 12,182 executives and 1,310,855 employees excluding executives. Compared to 2022, the number of executives increased by 255 (2.1%), while the number of employees decreased by 1,697 (0.1%). The total number of executives and employees was 1,323,037, down 1,442 from the previous year.

Accordingly, the ratio of employees per executive decreased from 110 in 2022 to 107.6 last year. By industry, the banking sector saw the largest drop in the ratio of employees per executive, falling from 405.8 to 366.8. While the number of employees decreased by 1,229 (-1.4%), the number of executives increased by 19 (9%). The retail industry dropped from 210.8 to 200.6, automotive parts from 139.5 to 134.2, IT electronics from 138.3 to 128.6, and steel from 127.7 to 123.4.

On the other hand, some sectors saw an increase in the ratio of employees per executive. In telecommunications, executives decreased by 10.5% and employees by 0.6% during the same period, raising the ratio from 135.3 to 150.2. Transportation also saw the ratio rise from 136.7 to 142.2.

The company with the highest ratio of employees per executive was CJ Freshway (1293.3), followed by Emart Everyday (188.7), Industrial Bank of Korea (913.6), Krafton (788.5), Woori Bank (685.2), Shinhan Bank (630.6), Emart (582.2), Shinsegae Food (518), Hana Bank (474.4), and Ottogi (470.4).