Listed companies hiring less than previous years

By Yoon Ja-young

Listed firms are hiring fewer people than in previous years, meaning it is harder to get a decent job.

According to FnGuide, a business information provider, the country has 1,749 firms listed on the main bourse and the tech-loaded KOSDAQ market as of the end of last year. They had a total of 1.5 million employees.

The number of employees at these listed firms has increased by 2 percent from 2013 to 2014, the smallest growth rate since 2008 when the country was hit by the global financial crisis.

They created only 30,250 jobs last year, which compares with 114,958 in 2010. Back in 2010, the companies listed on the bourse contributed 35.6 percent of the new jobs created. Last year, they accounted for only 5.7 percent of the new jobs.

The country’s largest companies that are usually the most popular for jobseekers hired less than before in particular.

The number of employees at the country’s top 20 companies that hire the most workers stood at 550,388 last year, up 1.5 percent from a year ago. This compares with 2013 when the number of their workers increased by 5.5 percent.

According to the government, more than 530,000 jobs were created last year, but analysts point out that a considerable portion of them were part-time jobs, not permanent jobs at large companies.

Ko Ga-young, a researcher at LG Economic Research Institute, said that it is hard to expect decent jobs to be created due to the low growth.

“With the slowdown of economic growth, overall job creation has also slowed down. This is especially so with high-value industries such as the manufacturing sector,” she said.

She pointed out that most of the jobs created in the 2000s were in the service sector. However, the manufacturing sector generally offers better jobs, with full-time employment and higher wages, according to researcher. She explained the country’s service sector is generally composed of low-value industries such as retail and restaurants instead of high-value ones such as healthcare and finance.

“The expansion of employment in low-value industries can lead to deterioration in the overall job market,” the researcher warned.

“The government should continue creating descent jobs by creating new demand through structural reform and boosting the domestic economy,” she added.