A "generational reversal" has deepened at South Korea's major companies. Even as new hiring fell more than 15% over the past two years, the share of workers aged 30 and under shrank while the share of those aged 50 and over grew.
New Hiring Down 15%, Youth Share Shrinks
The trend emerged from an analysis by Leaders Index of employment data from 2023 to 2025, covering 132 of the country's 500 largest companies that disclosed their workforce by age group and new-hire figures, according to a report released on the 18th.
Among the 113 companies that disclosed new-hire numbers, total hiring fell 15.3%, from 109,456 in 2023 to 92,680 last year. Over the same period, total headcount edged down only slightly, from 1,262,928 to 1,259,051.
By age group, employees aged 30 and under fell 13.8%, from 267,343 in 2023 to 230,434 last year, and their share of total employment dropped from 21.2% to 18.3%.
By contrast, employees aged 50 and over rose by 10,715, or 4.8%, from 221,333 to 231,848, and their share climbed from 17.5% to 18.4% — overtaking the under-30 group.
Among new hires, the share of workers aged 30 and under fell from 56.4% to 51.1%, while the share of those aged 50 and over rose from 8.3% to 11.2%.
Gap Stands Out in Domestic-Oriented Sectors Such as Retail and Telecom
The generational gap was especially pronounced in domestically oriented sectors such as retail, food and beverage, construction, telecommunications and insurance.
Last year, retail had the highest share of employees aged 50 and over at 31.8%, followed by food and beverage at 30.6% and construction and building materials at 29.7%. In telecommunications, the share of workers aged 50 and over reached 25.6%, about four times the 6.6% share of those aged 30 and under.
Among individual companies, Lotte Shopping's share of employees aged 50 and over stood at 44.1%, more than eight times its 5.2% share of those aged 30 and under. At SK Telecom, the share of workers aged 50 and over reached 37.0%, while those aged 30 and under accounted for just 8.6%.
There were also many cases of sharp drops in youth hiring. HiteJinro's new hires aged 29 and under fell from 82 in 2023 to just one last year, while Hyundai Motor's new hires among young workers dropped 65.1% over the same period, from 16,551 to 5,782.
Some growth industries, however, such as semiconductors and biotechnology, saw a sharp increase in young hires.
SK hynix's total new hires rose from 739 in 2023 to 3,201 last year, and its hires of young workers among them jumped more than tenfold, from 228 to 2,560. Samsung Biologics also increased its new hires of young workers from 205 to 484.
