Career, an online job portal, forecasts an increase in recruiting plans this year of 28,000 to 30,000 positions (+ 1.2 percent over last year). Of the largest 500 Korean companies surveyed, almost half answered that they planned to recruit this year, while 15 percent had no hiring plans. The rest are undecided. Those industries forecasted to recruit the largest numbers of new employees include electric and electronics companies (4,974), followed by finance (4,454), petrochemicals and gas (3,544), shipbuilding and machinery (2,596), manufacturing and other consumer discretionary (2,496), construction (2,292), information and communication (2,005), automobile (1,903) and distribution/trading (1.326).

Industries that project an increase in recruitment over the previous year include the transportation industry (+ seven percent), distribution and trading (+6.4 percent), petrochemicals and gas (+5.4 percent), and electric and electronics. The number of jobs in steel and construction is forecast to decline (by seven and four percentage points, respectively). Kumho Asiana Group plans to hire 2,600 people (about 18 percent more than last year). Doosan Group plans to add 850 mid-year while Hanwha plans to double its number of intakes to 1,500. Korean Air soon plans to take on 200 people. Hynix Semiconductor is scheduled to employ 500 to 600 people, up 30 percent from last year. Hyundai Industries will also recruit some 500 people over the same time period. Samsung Group and LG Group, which reduced the scale of recruitment last year, have not publicly announced their plans, but industry experts expect them to slightly expand their workforce.