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An apartment construction site in Seoul. (Photo provided by Yonhap News Agency) |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] As the construction downturn persists, Korea’s top ten construction companies are experiencing continued reductions in workforce size. Following staff cuts implemented in the first half of the year, many firms have recently halted new hiring altogether.
According to data disclosed on December 8 through the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic filing system, nine of the top ten construction companies—excluding SK Ecoplant, which is transitioning into a semiconductor service provider—reported year-over-year declines in employee headcount.
Compared with the same period last year, workforce figures for the first half of 2024 show reductions across major firms. Samsung C&T’s employee count fell from 6,004 to 5,751; Hyundai Engineering & Construction from 7,231 to 7,088; Hyundai Engineering from 7,554 to 7,118; Daewoo E&C from 5,286 to 5,130; DL E&C from 5,772 to 5,161; GS E&C from 5,818 to 5,299; POSCO E&C from 6,283 to 5,753; Lotte E&C from 3,968 to 3,832; SK Ecoplant increased from 3,398 to 3,479; and HDC Hyundai Development Company from 1,911 to 1,771.
Non-regular workers accounted for the majority of the reductions. At Samsung C&T, 246 of the 253 employees who left were non-regular workers. A senior official at a major construction firm explained, “Project-based employees work under contracts tied to construction timelines. As new projects begin in the first half of next year, headcount is expected to rise again.”
SK Ecoplant, the only company to report an increase in total staff, attributed the growth to internal group transfers rather than new hiring. As the company expands into new business areas such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI), employees from SK Eco Engineering have been transferred to SK Ecoplant. While the number of regular employees decreased by 30, the non-regular workforce grew by 111, resulting in a net increase in total employees—the only such case among major construction firms.
Hyundai Engineering recorded the largest decrease in non-regular workers, with a reduction of 453 employees over the past year, primarily due to the expiration of project-based contracts.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
