South Korea’s major conglomerates are witnessing a notable shift in workforce demographics, with an increasing number of older employees and a decline in younger workers. This trend, fueled by the nation’s aging population and evolving corporate hiring practices, is particularly evident in major companies that have traditionally driven the country’s economy.
A recent survey by the corporate analysis research institute Leaders Index, which analyzed workforce data from 123 leading companies that submitted corporate sustainability management reports over the past three years, highlights this shift. Last year, out of a total workforce of 1,417,401, only 306,731 employees were under 30—a drop of 15,844 from 2021. Despite an overall increase of 38,000 in total employees, the percentage of those under 30 decreased from 23.4% in 2021 to 21.6% last year, marking a significant decline of 1.8 percentage points.
This aging workforce trend is particularly pronounced in sectors like IT, electronics, and services such as retail and telecommunications, where the number of younger employees has dropped while the share of workers aged 50 and over has risen. In the IT and electronics sector, the proportion of employees under 30 fell from 34.2% in 2021 to 28.9% last year, while the share of those aged 50 and above grew from 16.6% to 19.8%.
Samsung Electronics has experienced the most significant reduction in younger workers, with the number of employees under 30 dropping by 17,372 (19%) over the past two years, reducing their share of the total workforce by 6.6 percentage points, from 33.7% to 27.1%. Similarly, LG Display saw an 18% decline in employees under 30, with their numbers decreasing from 34,929 to 28,493 during the same period.
In the secondary battery industry, the proportion of workers under 30 decreased by 5.8 percentage points, from 40.0% in 2021 to 34.2% last year, while the share of those aged 50 and over increased from 6% to 7%. The retail industry also saw a drop in younger employees, with their share falling from 15.1% in 2021 to 12.5% last year. In contrast, the telecommunications sector saw the proportion of employees aged 50 and over rise from 8.2% to 11% during this period.
According to Park Ju-gun, CEO of Leaders Index, large corporations are increasingly shifting from mass hiring of new graduates to more frequent recruitment of experienced professionals. A March analysis by the Korea Labor Institute of 100 large companies revealed that regular recruitment dropped from 39.9% in 2019 to 35.8% in 2023, while frequent hiring rose from 45.6% to 48.3%. Additionally, the share of new recruits who were high school or college graduates fell from 47% in 2019 to 40.3% last year. Notably, except for Samsung Electronics, major domestic conglomerates have moved away from regular recruitment in favor of this new approach, prioritizing experienced professionals.
On the other hand, traditional heavy industries are seeing a rejuvenation of their workforce. Sectors like automotive and shipbuilding, which have historically had older workforces, are now experiencing an increase in younger employees, particularly in new business areas and research and development (R&D). In the automotive and parts sector, the number of employees under 30 grew by about 10,000 last year compared to 2021, with their share of the workforce rising from 18.7% to 21.2%. This shift is attributed to the retirement of baby boomers from production roles and the hiring of younger talent in emerging fields like software, artificial intelligence, and future vehicle development.
Similarly, the shipbuilding and machinery sectors expanded their workforce by about 10,000 employees over the same period, bringing the total to 89,566, with an increase of 3,500 workers under 30. The shipbuilding industry, in particular, has been actively recruiting younger talent for roles in R&D, manufacturing, and office positions, driven by a surge in orders starting last year.
