South Korean companies to hire 24% more staff in Q2 & Q3

These figures were from a survey conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on 32,000 companies with five or more permanent staff. 

These companies have plans to employ 296,000 workers in the second and third quarters of this year, an increase of 58,000 or 24.2% compared to the corresponding period last year. 

This is the largest increase since 2018 when the number of workers companies planned to hire was 314,000 in the corresponding period. 

By sector, the manufacturing industry is planning to hire 93,000 workers, followed by the transportation and warehouse industry at 36,000 and health and social welfare services at 34,000. 

In a separate survey by the ministry, about 18.7 million people were employed by companies with one or more workers as at the end of May, an increase of 350,000 or 1.9% higher than that in the same month last year.  

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Since March, the number has been on an upward trend. By sector, the largest increase in May was in health and social welfare services at 114,000, followed by education services at 68,000 and science and technology services at 56,000, according to Yonhap.