Clear Trend of Aging Workforce in Large Corporations... Decrease in 20s, Increase in 50s

Leaders Index Analysis
Number of Employees Under 30 Decreased by 15,844 in 2 Years... Surpassed by Those Over 50

Aging trends have been observed in the composition of employees at major domestic conglomerates, with a decrease in those 'under 30' and an increase in those 'over 50.'

On the 20th, Leaders Index, a corporate analysis research institute, revealed the age group status of employees at 123 companies out of 141 that submitted sustainability management reports for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023 among the top 500 companies by sales ranking. The results showed this trend.

The total number of employees at these companies increased by 37,995 from 1,379,406 in 2021 to 1,417,401 in 2023. However, those under 30 decreased by 15,844 (4.9%) from 322,575 (23.4%) to 306,731 (21.6%).

On the other hand, employees aged 50 and over increased by 27,424 (9.7%) from 284,061 to 311,484 during the same period. Their share of the total workforce also rose by 1.4 percentage points from 20.8% to 22.0%, surpassing the number of employees in their 20s.

Employees aged 30 to 50, who form the backbone of the organization, increased by 43,617 (4.3%) from 764,423 in 2021 to 797,040 in 2023, with their proportion slightly rising from 55.4% to 56.2%.

By industry, the 'decrease in 20s, increase in 50s' phenomenon was particularly evident in IT electronics, telecommunications, finance, lifestyle and distribution, food and beverage, and pharmaceuticals.

Conversely, in traditional heavy industries such as automotive, steel, shipbuilding and machinery, petrochemicals, energy, and construction, where the proportion of employees aged 50 and over is typically high, the number of employees under 30 increased while those over 50 decreased.

Among companies, Samsung Electronics saw the largest decrease in employees under 30. The number dropped by 17,372 (-19.3%) from 89,897 in 2021 to 72,525 in 2023, with the proportion of employees in their 20s falling by 6.6 percentage points from 33.7% to 27.1%.

Meanwhile, among the surveyed companies, 22 had less than 10% of employees under 30, while those aged 50 and over were three times more numerous than the younger group.

The company with the highest ratio of employees aged 50 and over compared to those in their 20s was Kia. Kia’s employees under 30 nearly tripled from 1,017 in 2021 to 2,539 in 2023. However, employees aged 50 and over accounted for more than half (55.4%) of the total workforce, which was 7.8 times the number of employees under 30 (7.1%).