Hyundai Motor promises to create 46,000 jobs

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, center, and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, third from right, link hands with other participants during the prime minister's visit to Hyundai Motor Studio in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday, as a part of the government's "Youth Hope ON" project. Yonhap

Chairman says EV production in US will not begin next year

By Yi Whan-woo

Hyundai Motor Group has promised to create 46,000 new jobs over the next three years to back up the government's concerted efforts to get conglomerates to widen job opportunities and educational training for young job seekers.

This commitment was made at Hyundai Motor Studio in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday, when the group joined the administration's "Youth Hope ON" project, led by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum.

Hyundai Motor Group is the sixth and the latest conglomerate to join the government-led project since September of this year. The project has involved a series of meetings with leaders from Korea's top conglomerates, including Samsung, SK, LG, POSCO and KT. The six business groups collectively plan to create more than 170,000 jobs.

Monday's event was attended by Prime Minister Kim, Minister of Employment and Labor An Kyung-duk and other high-ranking government officials. From the Hyundai Motor Group side, Chairman Chung Euisun and Kong Young-woon, who serves as the president of the group's flagship affiliate, Hyundai Motor, were present.

Of the 46,000 planned jobs, the automotive group will directly hire 30,000 people, while running support programs for partner companies and startups to recruit the remaining 16,000.

The company will expand recruitment for its next growth engines, including as advanced air mobility, hydrogen generation and autonomous driving.

The support programs will focus on helping an annual average of 5,000 job seekers through internships, partnerships with academia and training designed to develop "the skills needed for future technologies."

Regarding startups, a total of 1,000 prospective entrepreneurs will receive support from the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation, which is named after the group's honorary chairman and Chung Euisun's father, plus ZER01NE, a project sponsored by the conglomerate to nurture an innovative business ecosystem with startups.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, center, smiles as Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, right, and Minister of Employment and Labor An Kyung-duk are introduced to each other during the prime minister's visit to the Hyundai Motor Studio in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Yonhap

The prime minister thanked Chairman Chung and the automotive group for "making a bold decision for the future of the younger generations."

"I especially thank Hyundai Motor Group for pledging to create the highest number of jobs among the participating companies," Kim said, referring to KT's plan to create 12,000 jobs, Samsung's 30,000, LG's 39,000, SK's 27,000 and POSCO's 25,000.

The prime minister lauded Hyudai Motor Group for its "spirit of challenge." He noted that such a spirit reminds him of Chung Euisun's late grandfather, Chung Ju-young, who laid the foundations for the automotive group, as well as the nation's other key businesses in the post-Korean War period.

In a separate message, Chung Euisun said it was the group's mission to "make it prosperous to create jobs and help young people unfold their talents."

"In that regard, we'll continue to make efforts for more young individuals to take a part in our new businesses," he added.

Regarding its plan to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) at the company's U.S. plant in Montgomery, Alabama, Chung said, "It will certainly not be next year," adding that the process was on schedule.

The EV business is one of the next growth engines for the country's top automotive group, which also include urban air mobility and robotics, on which Hyundai Motor Group will spend $7.4 billion in the U.S. over the next five years.

Chung said that demand for EVs will rise throughout 2040 and that he is thinking about how to deal with two relevant businesses ― batteries and chips ― amid problems with global supply chains.

"When it comes to battery manufacturing, we can jointly research battery cells with suppliers. But I think battery manufacturers will be in charge of manufacturing actual production," Chung told reporters.

But he didn't elaborate on the possibility that the group could move forward with plans to internalize systems for chip production. The chip shortage has hobbled the global auto industry, forcing leading vehicle manufacturers to initiate in-house protocols to internalize chip making.

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