
7 out of 10 Korean workers plan to get a new job this year: survey
About 70 percent of surveyed South Korean workers said they plan to change jobs this year, an online job recruitment platform reported Thursday.
The survey of 1,467 employees by Saramin found that those with assistant manager-level posts were most likely to seek a job change, as 76.2 percent of them said they plan to move to a new company, followed by 71.4 percent of those with general manager titles and 70.4 percent of those in manager posts.
Respondents with executive-level jobs were least likely to seek a new job at 56.6 percent. Some 68.2 percent of those in regular staff positions said they wanted to get a new job.
The top reason for looking for a new job was better pay (56 percent), followed by the company's lack of vision and slow growth (41.4 percent), its inability to foster employee growth (31.3 percent) and an insufficient welfare system (26 percent).
Of the respondents who expressed willingness to get a new job, 35.2 percent said they were unsure about their chances of success. When asked why they lacked confidence, 61.6 percent said they feared a prolonged economic slump. Some 58 percent said it was because fewer companies are looking to hire.
The South Korean economy in 2024 logged weaker growth than initially projected, with the Bank of Korea saying in January that the country's real gross domestic product increased by 2 percent. It was lower than the central bank's forecast of 2.2 percent growth, projected in the second half of 2023.
The country's job market shrank accordingly, with the Federation of Korean Industries' August report showing that 17.5 percent of the top 500 corporations in sales had no plans to hire recruits in the second half of the year, up 0.9 percent from the same period in 2023.
According to corporate analysis firm Leaders Index, the number of employees at 339 state-run organizations that made their employment information public went from 400,668 in 2022 to 396,011 in the third quarter of 2024. Of those agencies, 223 hired fewer people than before, 99 hired more and 17 sustained the number of recruits.

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Korea Herald
13 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Lee, Trump agree to meet soon, tee up ‘golf for alliance': Seoul
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Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Lee, Trump agree to meet soon, tee up golf for alliance: Seoul
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and US President Donald Trump agreed to meet as soon as possible — and play a round of golf — with Trump inviting Lee to visit the US, Seoul's presidential office said. The first phone call between Lee and Trump occurred around 10 p.m. Friday, two days after Lee was officially inaugurated as president on Wednesday, following his confirmed victory in Tuesday's early presidential election. The 20-minute phone conversation drew heightened attention in Seoul as the alliance faces a laundry list of pending issues on multiple fronts, from security to trade. 'The two presidents agreed to work toward reaching a tariff agreement between the US and South Korea that would be satisfactory to both countries,' said Kang Yu-jung, the presidential spokesperson, in a written statement. To that end, Lee and Trump agreed to 'encourage tangible results from the working-level negotiations.' Seoul and Washington have been engaged in working-level negotiations ahead of the expiration of a 90-day self-imposed moratorium on Trump's reciprocal tariffs, which are scheduled to take effect for each country on July 9. The deadline set by the Trump administration for all US trading partners to submit their best offers on a trade deal expired Wednesday. According to Lee's office, 'President Trump invited President Lee to visit the US, and President Lee responded that he hopes to meet and consult frequently with the US as part of their special alliance.' 'The two presidents agreed to meet at the earliest possible time — either on the sidelines of a multilateral meeting or on the occasion of a bilateral visit — to further discuss the development of the alliance," the statement added. Notably, the presidential office in Seoul disclosed that Lee and Trump 'introduced their respective golfing skills and agreed to play a round for the alliance whenever possible.' Trump and Lee could meet on the sidelines of two multilateral events in June. The first is the G7 Summit in Alberta, Canada, on June 16–17, 2025, if South Korea is invited as an observer state and decides to attend. The other opportunity is the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague on June 24–25, which South Korea has been invited to as one of four Indo-Pacific partners alongside Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Lee's office highlighted that the call between Lee and Trump was conducted with a 'friendly and informal atmosphere.' 'The two presidents also shared various anecdotes and experiences from their presidential campaigns, particularly concerning the risks of assassination and the political challenges they faced,' the presidential office said. 'They agreed that strong leadership comes from overcoming such difficulties.' The Korea Herald has learned that South Korea's Foreign Ministry sought to arrange the first phone call between the two leaders on Lee's inauguration day. However, the call occurred later than his predecessors. President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol held his first phone call with then-US President Joe Biden about five hours after his election on March 10, 2022. Similarly, President Moon Jae-in spoke with his US counterpart on the day of his inauguration, May 10, 2017, despite the absence of a traditional transition period following the early presidential election. Then President-elect Park Geun-hye held a phone call with US President Barack Obama two days after her victory on December 19, 2012. The protracted phone call drew criticism in Seoul, mainly from the opposition People Power Party — especially after the White House issued an unusual response to the presidential election, expressing US concern and opposition to "Chinese interference and influence in democracies around the world."


Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Political uncertainty falls below pre-martial law levels: BOK
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