"6,700 Big-Company Jobs Vanish"...Which Firms Hired Over 2,000 Anyway?

Total headcount down 6,729 from a year earlier
CJ Olive Young adds 2,518 employees
SK hynix also hires 2,188 more
LG Electronics, Emart and others cut more than 1,000 jobs
Most of the top 10 business groups also reduce employment

Last year, the number of jobs at the top 500 companies in Korea decreased by more than 6,700. Among them, CJ Olive Young, which benefited from the global popularity of K-beauty, and SK Hynix, which enjoyed a boom in semiconductors driven by artificial intelligence (AI), each increased their employment by more than 2,000 people.

Yonhap News Agency

Corporate data research institute CEO Score announced on the 11th that it had released the results of a survey on employment status, based on National Pension Service subscribers, for 476 companies among the top 500 by sales, excluding those that underwent spin-offs or mergers.

As of December last year, the total number of employees at these companies was 1,625,526, down 6,729 (0.4%) from 1,632,255 a year earlier. The number of companies that increased employment was 222 (46.6%), and among them, 74.3% (165 companies) saw a small increase of fewer than 100 employees. The number of companies that reduced employment was 249 (52.3%).

CEO Score

The company that increased employment the most was CJ Olive Young, with an additional 2,518 employees (21.1%). CJ Olive Young significantly expanded its stores and workforce in line with rising brand demand and store openings driven by growth in the K-beauty market.

It was followed by SK Hynix, which added 2,188 employees (6.9%). SK Hynix sharply increased its research and development (R&D) and manufacturing workforce for new facility investments, as the semiconductor market recovered and demand rose.

Next were Korea Railroad Corporation (1,942 employees, 8.3%), Samkoo INC (1,266 employees, 10.5%), and Coupang (1,096 employees, 9.8%), bringing the number of companies that increased employment by more than 1,000 to five. Viva Republica (929 employees, 87.1%), Asung Daiso (645 employees, 5.3%), Amkor Technology Korea (638 employees, 8.7%), LIG Nex1 (617 employees, 13.6%), and Samyang Foods (432 employees, 19.1%) were also among the top 10 companies in terms of employment growth.

CEO Score

Companies that reduced employment by more than 1,000 employees included LG Electronics (1,687 employees, -4.7%), Emart (1,340 employees, -5.7%), Homeplus (1,340 employees, -6.9%), LG Display (1,247 employees, -4.9%), Lotte Shopping (1,170 employees, -6.1%), and Hyundai Motor Company (1,073 employees, -1.5%). In addition, DL E&C (936 employees, -17.7%), LG Chem (839 employees, -6.0%), LG Uplus (837 employees, -8.1%), and Lotte Wellfood (730 employees, -11.2%) also recorded large decreases, bringing the total number of companies with steep reductions to 10.

Looking only at the top 10 conglomerate groups, all but SK (773 employees, 1.1%), Hanwha (370 employees, 1.1%), and Hanjin (128 employees, 0.6%) reduced employment. The number of jobs declined at LG (5,341 employees, -4.1%), Lotte (3,637 employees, -6.5%), Hyundai Motor Group (1,880 employees, -1.1%), Samsung (1,100 employees, -0.4%), POSCO (963 employees, -3.2%), and GS (564 employees, -3.3%).