18% of Large Corporation Workers Are 'Dispatched or Contracted'...Higher Indirect Employment Ratio in Larger Companies

Ministry of Employment Announces 2023 Employment Type Disclosure Results
Number of Companies with 300+ Regular Employees Increased by 200 to 3,887
Proportion of Non-Affiliated Workers: 18.1% for 300+ Employees, 20.8% for 1,000+ Employees

About 18% of workers in large companies with 300 or more regular employees are 'non-affiliated workers' such as dispatched, subcontracted, or service workers. In companies with 1,000 or more employees, this proportion exceeds 20%, indicating that the larger the company, the higher the share of indirect employment.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 7th, 3,887 companies with 300 or more regular employees completed employment type disclosure this year, an increase of 200 companies compared to the previous year. The total number of workers disclosed by these companies was 5,577,000, an increase of 311,000.

The employment type disclosure system, which started in 2014, classifies workers into affiliated and non-affiliated workers based on whether they are regular or non-regular employees and their affiliation status. Non-affiliated workers refer to workers (both regular and non-regular) who are not directly employed by the business owner but are employed by another company and work at the respective workplace through services, subcontracting, or dispatch.

A worker is working at a construction site in Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

This year, the number of companies disclosing increased in health and welfare (50 companies), construction (33 companies), and information and communication (28 companies). Conversely, it decreased in public administration (-4 companies), sewage and waste (-2 companies), education services (-2 companies), and electricity and gas (-1 company).

Among the 5,577,000 workers in disclosed companies, 4,566,000 (81.9%) are affiliated workers, and 1,011,000 (18.1%) are non-affiliated workers such as dispatched and service workers. The proportion of non-affiliated workers has decreased from 19% in 2017 to 18.3% in 2020 and 18.1% this year.

The proportion of non-affiliated workers tends to be relatively higher in larger companies. For companies with 1,000 or more employees, this proportion is 20.8%, which is 2.7 percentage points higher than the overall average. It increased by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year. The main tasks of non-affiliated workers were cleaning, security, administrative work, and transportation, in that order.

Among affiliated workers in companies with 300 or more employees, 3,394,000 (74.3%) are 'workers without a fixed term,' and 1,172,000 (25.7%) are 'fixed-term workers.' Among affiliated workers, 4,254,000 (93.2%) are full-time workers, and 312,000 (6.8%) are part-time workers who work at least one hour less than the standard working hours (mostly 40 hours per week).

Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, said, "The government will do its best to support companies' autonomous improvement of employment structures," adding, "In particular, through win-win cooperation between primary and subcontracting companies, we will strengthen conditions for sustainable private job creation to improve the dual structure of the labor market by reducing gaps and protecting the vulnerable."

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