Top 30 Firms to Hire Fewer Staff This Year

Korea's top 30 major businesses will hire fewer new employees this year, despite planning to increase investment.

A survey of the country's top 30 conglomerates by the Federation of Korean Industries released Monday found that their combined investment will increase to W136.4 trillion (US$1=W1,132) in 2015, up 16.5 percent from a year earlier, but the total number of new employees will decline 6.3 percent to some 122,000.

The conglomerates cut new hiring in 2014 as well, recruiting 10 percent fewer new workers than in the previous year.

Some 19 of the 30 conglomerates said they would reduce new recruitment from last year, while four said hiring numbers would be flat. Only seven companies plan to hire more new workers.

Experts say the survey shows that labor costs are becoming an increasing burden for businesses as growth slows.