The job market for young people will become more challenging in the second half of this year. (image: Pixabay)
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent survey showed that the job market for young people will become more challenging in the second half of this year due to the worsening of business sentiment caused by the deepening of uncertainties in and outside of Korea.
According to a survey of the nation’s 500 largest companies in terms of sales commissioned by the Federation of Korean Industries and conducted by the firm Research and Research, 48 percent of the respondents said that they have not yet established new recruitment plans for the second half of this year, while 16.6 percent said that they have no such plans at all.
Among the top 500 companies, 35.4 percent have formulated new recruitment plans for the second half of this year. Among these companies, 57.8 percent intended to maintain their hiring levels at a similar rate to that of last year, while 24.4 percent plan to reduce hiring. Only 17.8 percent have expressed intentions to increase recruitment.
When asked why they were not hiring new employees or increasing recruitment levels, 25.3 percent mentioned deteriorating profitability and the adoption of cost-cutting measures in response to business uncertainty.
Another 19 percent cited the prolonged global economic downturn and the economic slump resulting from high interest rates and unfavorable foreign exchange rates, while 15.2 percent referred to cost-saving measures to address rising raw material prices and increased labor expenses.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
