"Working at Daiso" Why So Many... 12,500 Employees, Major Job Creator [The Evolution of 1,000-Won Items]

Daiso Emart Mokdong Branch, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang

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Daiso, emerging as a new powerhouse in the distribution industry, is contributing to job creation despite the economic downturn. While companies are reducing their hiring scale due to internal and external uncertainties, Daiso has steadily increased its number of employees based on its performance growth, with labor-related expenses rising by more than 12% in one year.

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According to the audit report submitted by Asung Daiso to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 19th, the total number of employees at Daiso as of the end of last year was 12,575. Although the number of employees decreased to 10,203 right after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, it has maintained over 10,000 with 11,372 in 2022 and 12,349 in 2023, continuing to expand its workforce despite the trend of employment reduction in the distribution industry.

Last year, Daiso spent approximately 558 billion KRW on labor costs, including salaries, retirement benefits, and welfare expenses. This is about a 12.6% increase compared to the previous year (495.6 billion KRW). By category, the expenses were ▲salary 472.2 billion KRW ▲retirement benefits 43.3 billion KRW ▲welfare expenses 42.5 billion KRW, each increasing by 12.9% (54 billion KRW), 11.4% (4.4 billion KRW), and 10.1% (3.9 billion KRW) respectively compared to the previous year.

This increase in labor costs is interpreted as an indicator of Daiso's employment expansion. In fact, Daiso conducted two rounds of open recruitment last year in the first and second halves and is maintaining the hiring expansion trend this year as well. Last month, it accelerated talent acquisition by recruiting new and experienced employees in 14 departments, including sales, online business, logistics, and HR/general affairs.

This contrasts with other companies that are reducing or postponing hiring. As economic uncertainties continue, many companies are reducing regular recruitment, switching to occasional hiring, or even suspending hiring altogether. Some are taking a passive stance on workforce expansion by implementing restructuring to cut labor costs.

According to a survey conducted by the Korea Economic Association (KEA) in February through Research & Research targeting the top 500 companies by sales, 61.1% of respondent companies said they have no plans or are undecided about new hires in the first half of this year. 'Undecided' accounted for 41.3%, and 19.8% said they have no plans at all. These figures increased by 3.9 and 2.7 percentage points respectively compared to the same survey in the first half of last year.

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The clear performance growth underpins Daiso's employment expansion. Last year, Daiso's sales and operating profit were 3.9689 trillion KRW and 371.1 billion KRW respectively, up 14.7% and 41.8% from the previous year. Sales trends show continuous growth: ▲2.6048 trillion KRW in 2021 ▲2.9458 trillion KRW in 2022 ▲3.4604 trillion KRW in 2023 ▲3.9689 trillion KRW in 2024. Operating profit also surpassed 300 billion KRW for the first time last year, rising from ▲283.8 billion KRW in 2021 ▲239.3 billion KRW in 2022 ▲261.7 billion KRW in 2023.

The key factor driving growth is the 'uniform price strategy.' Daiso has maintained a price policy not exceeding 5,000 KRW, securing competitiveness in the era of high inflation. Additionally, the steady release of seasonal planned products and series items has contributed to sales expansion. Daiso explained, "Last year's sales increased due to rising demand for cost-effective products amid high inflation and the popularity of strategic products such as seasonal and series items. Operating profit grew due to increased sales and reduced cost of sales through economies of scale."

Meanwhile, Daiso is expected to continue its hiring expansion trend for the time being as the number of Daiso stores nationwide steadily increases. The number of stores has expanded from 1,339 in 2020 to about 1,500 currently. Since Daiso has a high proportion of directly managed stores, an increase in store numbers directly leads to an increase in headquarters staff. Furthermore, strengthening non-face-to-face distribution channels such as online malls is also expected to influence hiring expansion.

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