The Wave of 'Gujojojung' Restructuring Approaches

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] As business activities have contracted due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) crisis, the number of workers enrolled in the National Pension Service (NPS) at large corporations has decreased by more than 10,000 over the past two months.

In particular, the distribution industry, which was most affected by the contraction of external consumption activities due to social distancing policies, saw a decrease of more than 4,000 workers.

According to a survey conducted by the corporate evaluation site CEO Score on 492 out of the top 500 domestic companies whose NPS enrollment status is known, as of the end of March, the total number of NPS enrollees was 1,644,868.

This figure represents a decrease of 10,844 compared to the end of January, when COVID-19 began to spread in earnest in Korea.

In contrast to the increase of 3,443 NPS enrollees at these companies from February to March last year, this decline is interpreted as confirmation of employment reduction at large corporations due to COVID-19.

By industry, 15 out of 22 sectors saw a decrease in the number of NPS enrollees. The sectors with the most significant employment reductions were mainly in B2C (business-to-consumer) fields such as distribution, services, and food and beverage.

In the distribution sector, 11,524 people acquired NPS enrollment over two months, but 15,604 people lost enrollment, resulting in a net decrease of 4,080 people. Services (-1,983), public enterprises (-1,871), and food and beverage (-1,494) also saw decreases of over 1,000 people.

Following these were construction and building materials (-631), transportation (-554), shipbuilding, machinery, and equipment (-536), trading companies (-465), and daily necessities (-410), all showing triple-digit decreases.

By company, CJ CGV experienced the largest reduction in employment. Over two months, the number of employees decreased by 2,331, the only company with a decrease exceeding 2,000.

This is interpreted as a sharp decline in employment due to a drastic drop in audience numbers caused by COVID-19, with some theaters closing and normal operating locations reducing screening times.

CJ CGV had 205 and 87 new NPS enrollees in February and March respectively, but the number of losses was 1,189 and 1,434 respectively.

Following CJ CGV, CJ Foodville saw a decrease of 1,629 people, exceeding 1,000. Starbucks Coffee Korea (-859), Lotte Shopping (-827), Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (-678), Asung Daiso (-620), Korea Expressway Corporation (-573), GS Retail (-527), Korean Air (-470), and Corning Precision Materials (-339) were also among the top 10 companies with decreases.

Among the top 10 companies with the largest decreases, four were distribution companies, the most of any sector, while service, food and beverage, transportation, shipbuilding/machinery/equipment, public enterprises, and IT/electronics each had one company.

On the other hand, due to a surge in delivery demand caused by COVID-19, Coupang recorded an increase of 913 people during the same period, ranking first in terms of growth. This is a 56% increase compared to the 585 people added during the same period last year.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix followed with increases of 420 and 310 people, ranking second and third respectively. However, last year's increases were 724 for Samsung Electronics and 1,372 for SK Hynix, indicating a significant reduction in growth this year.

CEO Score explained that this survey aggregates the number of workers enrolled in the NPS by company business sites, allowing confirmation of the net increase or decrease in actual employment, and that there may be differences from employment figures reported in the electronic disclosure system.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.