This file photo shows the buildings of South Korea’s major companies in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — The percentage of employees over 50 years of age on payrolls nationwide showed a wide variance ranging from 50 percent to less than 1 percent by industry, a market research firm said Wednesday.
The Korea CXO Institute conducted a survey of 55 major companies with comparable employee age data, among 110 companies which published environment, social and governance (ESG) and sustainability management reports last year.
The survey showed that on average, the percentage of employees in their 30s and 40s was the highest at 63 percent.
The share of those over 50 years of age stood at 19.2 percent, and that of those aged less than 30 came in at 17.8 percent.
Among the surveyed companies, KT Corp. had the highest percentage of employees over 50. As of last year, the telecom giant had 22,720 employees, more than half of which or (12,116 employees, 53.3 percent) were over 50.
Following KT was Hyundai Motor Co. with 45.5 percent.
Kakao Corp. had the lowest percentage of employees over 50. Among its 2,800 employees, the number of those over 50 remained low at only 22 (0.78 percent).
The situation was similar at Naver Corp. Among its 4,100 employees, only 33 (0.8 percent) were over 50.
For Samsung Electronics Co., the share of employees younger than 30 stood at 37.3 percent, while the percentages of those in their 30s and over 40 stood at 39.6 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively.
By industry, the IT industry had the lowest percentage of employees over 50 at 0.8 percent.
In contrast, the percentage of employees over 50 was relatively high in the telecommunications (47.3 percent), automobile (44.9 percent) and construction (20.2 percent) industries.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
