April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s top 30 conglomerates hired 14,000 employees in the first half of this year and increased the number of permanent staff, according to corporate data on Aug. 16, showing they are keeping in step with the government policy of creating quality jobs.

Business tracker CEO Score gathered data on 262 companies who filed first-half business reports for this year and had hiring records that could be compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Results showed that CJ Group topped the list by hiring 24,709 people, up 22 percent from the same period last year, owing much to CJ Freshway, a food service affiliate, who switched a majority of its contract workers to permanent positions.

Samsung expanded its workforce by 3,946 employees, or 2.1 percent, while SK added 2,530 workers (4.6 percent).

The figures were 2,365 (1.9 percent) for LG, 1,633 (16.3 percent) for Hyundai Department Store, 1,564 (5.6 percent) for Hanwha and 1,379 (2.3 percent) for Lotte.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, on the other hand, let go 1,280 workers (4.1 percent). GS shed 1,156 employees (4.8 percent), Daelim 594 (6.1 percent), Doosan 420 (2.6 percent), and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering 382 (3.7 percent).

The number of permanent workers at the top 30 conglomerates increased by 18,714, or 2.1 percent, from January-June period last year. CJ topped that list as well with 4,365, up 22.1 percent.

Samsung followed with 4,024, or 2.2 percent.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)