Half of Mid-sized Companies Plan New Hiring in Second Half of the Year

Junggyeonryeon Announces Results of '2024 Second Half Mid-sized Companies Employment Outlook Survey'

Despite ongoing global instability raising concerns about the decline in the dynamism of our economy, it has been confirmed that nearly half, 45.9%, of mid-sized companies plan to hire new employees in the second half of this year.

The Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises announced the results of the "2024 Second Half Mid-sized Enterprises Employment Outlook Survey" on the 11th. This survey was conducted from June 10 to 28, targeting 412 mid-sized companies.

According to the survey results, 84.1% of mid-sized companies that revealed plans for new hires in the second half responded that they would either maintain (52.9%) or expand (31.2%) the scale of new hiring compared to the first half. Only 15.9% of companies said they would reduce the hiring scale.

Among mid-sized companies that said they would expand new hiring in the second half, 30.5% cited "business expansion and new business promotion" as the reason, 15.3% pointed to "performance improvement and increased demand," and 45.8% answered "replacement of existing workforce attrition" as the main hiring factor.

On the other hand, mid-sized companies that responded they would reduce hiring compared to the first half cited reasons such as "performance deterioration and demand decrease (23.3%)" and "difficulty in hiring suitable talent (13.3%)." The types of new hires planned were led by "regular full-time entry-level (51.7%)," followed by "regular full-time experienced (36.0%)" and "contract workers (12.3%)."

Also, it was confirmed that 28.1% of mid-sized companies offer starting annual salaries for university graduates of 40 million KRW or more. Mid-sized companies paying starting salaries of 50 million KRW or more accounted for 3.6%, with 5.3% paying between 45 million and 50 million KRW, and 19.2% between 40 million and 45 million KRW. Those paying between 35 million and 40 million KRW accounted for 26.9%, and between 30 million and 35 million KRW for 37.6%.

Lee Hojun, the full-time vice chairman of the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises, said, "In a situation where monthly hiring numbers have been decreasing since March, the fact that nearly half of mid-sized companies answered that they will proceed with new hiring in the second half is an encouraging phenomenon in terms of maintaining economic dynamism," adding, "To drive hiring expansion across the industry, including mid-sized companies, it is necessary to continue comprehensive structural reforms in labor, environment, and taxation that enhance corporate capabilities?the core of job creation?as well as short-term employment support policies."

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