South Korea’s hiring will drop nearly 7 percent from a year earlier as half of workplaces with more than 100 employees won’t be recruiting this year amid prolonged slowdown.

A survey on 258 Korean firms by Korea Employers Federation (KEF) Tuesday showed this year’s recruitment scale falling an estimated 6.6 percent from last year.

New placements at workplaces of more than 300 employees will be reduced by 5.8 percent. Offerings at companies in the scale of 100 to 299 employees will drop by bigger 14.8 percent.

Recruitment at workplaces of 300 to 999 will be scaled down by 8.5 percent. Employers of 1,000 or more will recruit 3.9 percent fewer than last year.

Job quota for college graduates will likely be scaled down by 7.3 percent, decreasing from the third straight year. That for high school graduates will also be 7.9 percent fewer, a drop for the fourth consecutive year.

About 53.7 percent of the companies plan to hire or has already hired this year. The ratio is the smallest since 64.2 percent in 2011.

Of the offerings, 69.1 percent will be reserved for novices and 30.9 percent with job experiences.

By Kang Young-woon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]