66.6% of Companies Plan New Recruitment, Up 5.8 Percentage Points from Last Year

KEF “2026 New Recruitment Status Survey”

Major Hiring Market Trend: Strengthening Job-Focused Recruitment

According to the '2026 New Recruitment Status Survey' conducted by the Korea Employers Federation on 500 companies with at least 100 employees, 66.6% of responding companies stated that they have plans for new recruitment this year.

Specifically, 66.6% of companies responded that they "plan to hire new employees," 23.2% answered that their "recruitment plans are undecided," and 10.2% said they "have no plans." The proportion of companies planning new recruitment increased by 5.8 percentage points from last year’s 60.8%.

Job seekers attending the "2026 Public Institution Recruitment Information Fair" held at aT Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 27th are looking at the recruitment bulletin board. 2026.1.27 Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

Among companies planning new hires this year, 62.2% said that their recruitment scale would be "similar to last year," the highest response. Meanwhile, 17.4% planned to "reduce hiring compared to last year," and 14.1% intended to "increase hiring compared to last year."

Regarding recruitment methods, 54.8% of companies answered that they will "only conduct rolling recruitment," the highest percentage. In addition, 35.0% said they will "combine regular and rolling recruitment," while 10.2% responded that they will "only conduct regular recruitment."

When asked about the most important evaluation factor when carrying out new recruitment, 67.6% of companies cited "work experience related to the position" as their top priority.

As for the main trends in the recruitment market this year, 72.2% of companies pointed to a "strengthening of job-centered recruitment." Other responses included the "generalization of rolling and ongoing recruitment" at 41.8%, and "increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the recruitment process" at 30.6%.

Lim Youngtae, Head of Employment and Social Policy at the Korea Employers Federation, said, "It is positive that this year's survey shows a slight increase in the percentage of companies with new recruitment plans compared to last year, indicating signs of recovery in the job market." He emphasized, "To further spread this momentum throughout the recruitment market, it is necessary to create a more business-friendly environment by boldly rationalizing regulations."

He added, "As the trend of job-centered recruitment continues, young people who have not yet found employment should make use of internships or high-quality job training and work experience programs offered by companies." He stated that "these opportunities will help enhance the employment competitiveness of young job seekers."

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