New registered hires fall for 3rd year, job switchers also decline

South Korea's job market is showing signs of increasing rigidity, with the number of newly registered employed individuals falling for the third consecutive year. This figure has now reached its lowest point since statistics were first compiled in 2017. The trend of declining job mobility is further underscored by a consecutive two-year decrease in the number of workers changing jobs.

According to the "2024 Employment Mobility Statistics" released by the National Data Agency, the total number of registered workers in 2024 rose by 0.4% to 26.5 million. Registered workers include both salaried and non-salaried employees identified through administrative data from public institutions like social insurance.

Within this total, the number of employees staying with the same company increased significantly by 2.0% to 18.92 million. However, the number of "new entrants", workers who moved from unregistered to registered employment, decreased by 4.5% to 3.48 million. This marks the second-largest annual decrease and the lowest total since 2017.

Similarly, "movers", workers who switched to a different registered company, also saw a decline of 2.6%, totaling 3.83 million. This marks the second consecutive year of decrease for this group. The data indicates that 72.6% of job movers remained within the same company size category. Notably, 81.4% of those moving from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) stayed within the SME sector, while 11.8% moved to large corporations. Conversely, 37% of those moving from large corporations remained in large corporations, with 56.6% moving to SMEs.

An analysis suggests that the shift from large corporations to SMEs is partly due to older workers seeking re-employment after retirement. The statistics also reveal that 41.3% of wage earners who changed jobs experienced a decrease in salary, while 57.8% saw an increase. Younger age groups, particularly those under 29 (63.1%), in their 30s (61.4%), and 40s (57.8%), were more likely to move to jobs with higher salaries.