The continuing economic recession is casting a dark shadow over the job market, which will likely hit small and medium-sized businesses harder than large companies.

Major conglomerates like Samsung and LG said they will maintain their original recruitment drives this year, but conditions have changed for the worse at many smaller firms.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business conducted a survey on 300 SMEs across the country and found that 47 percent do not plan to hire any new staff in the second half of the year. The main reason cited was the uncertain economic outlook. This marks a 15.3 percentage point increase from the first half.

Even companies that plan to bolster their workforces in the next six months said they will only hire 2.1 new staff on average, compared to 3.3 newly employed in the first half.