Two out of three major Korean companies plan to hire new employees this year, a survey showed.
The Korea Employers Federation (KEF) announced on the 10th that 66.6% of respondents said they "plan to hire new employees this year" in its "2026 New Hiring Survey" of 500 companies with 100 or more employees.
Some 23.2% responded that hiring plans were "undecided," while 10.2% said they had "no plans." The share of companies planning new hires rose 5.8 percentage points from last year's 60.8%.
Over the past five years, the percentage of companies with new hiring plans showed the following trend: 72.0% in 2022, 69.8% in 2023, 66.8% in 2024, and 60.8% in 2025. The KEF explained, "Business sentiment appears to have recovered this year compared to last year, somewhat improving hiring conditions for companies."
Among companies planning to hire, 62.2% said their hiring scale would be "similar to last year"—the most common response. Some 17.4% said they would "reduce hiring from last year," while 14.1% said they would "expand."
Reasons for not expanding new hires included conservative workforce management to respond to changing business environments (42.4%), increased labor and fixed costs (38.2%), filling positions only when vacancies occur (36.4%), and economic downturn and slowing business conditions (31.1%).
Regarding hiring methods, 54.8% said they would "conduct only rolling recruitment," followed by 35.0% who would "combine regular and rolling recruitment," and 10.2% who would "conduct only regular recruitment."
When asked about the most important evaluation factors in new hiring, "work experience related to the position" ranked highest at 67.6%. Soft skills such as personality and leadership accounted for 9.2%, extracurricular activities 7.0%, educational background 5.8%, and certifications 3.8%.
As for key hiring trends this year, "strengthening job-focused hiring" was the top response at 72.2%, followed by "normalization of rolling and ongoing recruitment" at 41.8%, and "increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the hiring process" at 30.6%.
Lim Young-tae, head of KEF's Employment and Social Policy Division, said, "It is positive that responses indicating 'plans for new hiring' increased from last year, showing signs of recovery in the job market." He added, "To spread warmth throughout the job market, we need to create a business-friendly environment through bold regulatory rationalization."
Lim also noted, "As the job-focused hiring trend continues, young people who have not yet found employment should utilize internships and quality job training and work experience programs offered by companies. This will help enhance their competitiveness in the job market."