Job Market Tightens... 64,000 Fewer Planned Hires Through March Next Year Compared to Last Year

It has been found that domestic companies plan to hire approximately 60,000 fewer employees from the end of this year to early next year compared to a year ago.

According to the results of the "2025 Second Half Business Establishment Workforce Survey by Occupation" released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on December 30, the number of planned hires at domestic establishments with at least one employee for the fourth quarter of this year through the first quarter of next year (October 2025 to January 2026) is tallied at 467,000. This represents a decrease of 64,000 people (12.1%) compared to the same period last year.

This hiring plan figure was calculated based on the "staff shortages" reported by companies as of October 1 last year. At that time, the reported staff shortage was 449,000, a decrease of 78,000 (14.8%) from the same period the previous year. The labor shortage rate also fell by 0.4 percentage points to 2.4%.

There were contrasting trends depending on company size. Establishments with fewer than 300 employees planned to hire 410,000 people, a decrease of 69,000 (14.4%) from a year earlier. In contrast, companies with 300 or more employees planned to hire 57,000 people, an increase of 5,000 (9.2%). The labor shortage rate at companies with 300 or more employees was 1.5%, lower than the 2.5% rate at companies with fewer than 300 employees.

By industry, the number of planned hires increased in business facilities management, business support and rental services, and financial and insurance sectors, while it decreased in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and construction. In particular, the planned number of hires in manufacturing fell by 15,000 compared to the previous year.

Both job openings and actual hires by companies in the third quarter of this year also declined. The number of job openings was 1,206,000, down 90,000 (7%) from the same period last year, while the number of hires was 1,105,000, a decrease of 68,000 (5.8%).

For establishments with fewer than 300 employees, job openings totaled 1,032,000, a decrease of 95,000 (8.4%), and hires also fell by 75,000 (7.3%) to 945,000. On the other hand, companies with 300 or more employees saw job openings and hires increase by 5,000 (2.9%) and 6,000 (4%) year-on-year, respectively, to 174,000 and 160,000.

Jobs Sought Abroad

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Hwayoung Lim = On the 20th, a job seeker visiting the 2025 Foreign Employment and Recruitment Fair held at SETEC in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, is looking at the job posting board. 2025.11.20

Photo by Hwayoung Lim

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Meanwhile, the Ministry of Employment and Labor also announced the results of the "November 2025 Business Establishment Workforce Survey" on the same day. According to the survey, as of the end of last month, the number of employees at establishments with at least one worker was 20,368,000, an increase of 43,000 (0.2%) compared to the same month last year. The number of employees at business establishments had been declining since January this year, but turned to an increase from September, marking three consecutive months of growth.

However, sluggish employment in the construction sector continued. The number of employees in construction was 1,375,000, a decrease of 56,000 (3.9%) from the same month last year. This downward trend has continued since June last year.

The actual number of hires by companies also decreased by 30,000 (3.5%) year-on-year to 823,000. The number of regular employees fell by 16,000 (5.2%), and temporary and daily workers decreased by 14,000 (2.6%).