40.6% of Mid-sized Companies Have "No Plans for New Hiring"

Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises Releases Results of '2025 Mid-sized Enterprises Employment Outlook Survey'

The number of mid-sized companies expecting a decrease in hiring scale this year has significantly increased. Additionally, 40.6% of mid-sized companies were unable to set new hiring plans.

According to the results of the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises' '2025 Mid-sized Enterprises Employment Outlook Survey' released on the 14th, about half (52.6%) of the 59.4% of mid-sized companies with new hiring plans responded that they would maintain the same level as the previous year. On the other hand, companies expecting a decrease reached 25.9%, which is a 10 percentage point increase compared to the hiring decrease outlook of 15.9% in the second half of last July.

Mid-sized companies that responded they would reduce the scale of new hiring cited main factors such as 'deterioration of performance and demand decline (40.7%)', 'cost reduction (30.1%)', and 'concerns about economic downturn (15.4%)', expressing concerns about unstable domestic and international environmental changes.

The percentage of companies that responded they would expand hiring scale this year was 21.5%, a 9.7 percentage point decrease compared to the outlook in July last year. This survey was conducted from November 18 to December 2, 2024, targeting 800 mid-sized companies.

91.1% of mid-sized companies reported difficulties in securing personnel in various fields such as 'technical and production positions (31.8%)', 'research and development positions (22.9%)', 'sales and marketing positions (16.2%)', and 'office and administrative positions (15.0%)'.

To resolve difficulties in securing personnel, mid-sized companies unanimously agreed on the need for active policy support such as 'expansion of employment support projects (25.7%)', 'expansion of tax support (23.2%)', 'enhancement of employment flexibility (17.5%)', 'strengthening of workforce training programs (16.6%)', and 'support for infrastructure development for industrial complexes and companies located in local areas (9.3%)'.

Lee Hojun, Executive Vice Chairman of the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises, stated, "Amid maximized domestic and international instability, mid-sized companies, as well as the entire industry, must be able to dispel young people's concerns about employment contraction so that the spark of economic recovery is not completely extinguished." He added, "To this end, it is urgent to implement a progressive policy package to strengthen mid-sized companies' hiring capacity, including expanded tax support such as income tax reductions for employed persons and solidification of youth employment support projects."