Large Corporations Resume Second Half Hiring... 1 in 2 Companies Establish New Recruitment Plans

Korea Economic Association Survey of Top 500 Companies by Sales

Share of Companies with New Hiring Plans Rebounds to 51.2%

Domestic-Focused Sectors Like Wholesale and Construction Remain Cautious

The new hiring climate among major domestic conglomerates in the second half of this year appears to have improved somewhat compared to last year. More than half of the companies have finalized their recruitment plans, and fewer companies are planning to cut hiring, indicating a warmer job market.

According to the results of the “2026 Second Half Large Corporation New Hiring Plan Survey,” conducted by the Korea Economic Association (hereinafter referred to as the Association) and commissioned to the polling agency Research & Research, 51.2% of the respondent companies (121 companies) reported having established hiring plans for the second half of this year. This figure marks an increase of 14.0 percentage points compared to the second half of last year (37.2%).

Results of the "2026 Second Half Large Corporation New Hiring Plan Survey" conducted targeting the top 500 companies by sales revenue of the Korea Economic Association. The Korea Economic Association

Conversely, the proportion of companies responding with “undecided” (28.1%) and “no plan” (20.7%) fell by 9.9 percentage points and 4.1 percentage points, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Among those that have set plans, 50.0% intend to maintain hiring levels similar to last year, while the share of companies planning to reduce hiring (25.8%) dropped by 12.0 percentage points from last year (37.8%).

In terms of recruitment methods, there is a growing trend of regular open recruitment (gongchae) regaining ground. The proportion of companies stating they would use both open recruitment and rolling recruitment was 54.9%, an increase of 17.1 percentage points year-on-year, and among these companies, open recruitment accounted for 62.7% of all new hires, up 19.2 percentage points from last year’s 43.5%.

The Association analyzed that companies are increasing open recruitment again as they seek to comprehensively assess not only job skills but also organizational fit, collaboration skills, and adaptability.

However, due to weak domestic demand and the slump in the construction sector, there were significant differences in perceived hiring climate by industry. In the wholesale and retail (71.5%), construction and civil engineering (61.5%), and distribution and logistics (55.5%) industries, over half of companies still responded that they had yet to set a hiring plan or had no plans to recruit, reflecting a cautious stance amid delayed economic recovery.

Companies cited priorities to expand youth hiring as deregulation to promote investment and employment (30.6%), increases in tax and financial incentives for companies that grow employment (21.5%), and greater flexibility in employment systems (19.8%).

Lee Sangho, Executive Director of the Economic Division at the Association, stated, "It is encouraging that the hiring drive by large corporations has broadened compared to last year," but stressed, "Given the industry-specific disparities, it is imperative to establish an environment in which companies can continuously secure hiring capacity through practical tax support such as expanding the integrated employment tax credit and easing regulations."

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