The percentages of changing into a company government in Korea proceed to shrink. That raises the query: Would Kim Nak-su, the old style but sympathetic protagonist of the hit Ok-drama “The Dream Lifetime of Mr. Kim,” ever have a shot at becoming a member of the chief ranks of a significant firm? In response to a brand new survey, the probability of reaching an government place is now beneath 1 p.c.
In response to an evaluation launched Tuesday by the Korea CXO Analysis Institute, the highest 100 Korean companies make use of a mixed 861,076 staff, up 1.4 p.c from a 12 months earlier.
Over the identical interval, the variety of nonregistered executives fell 1.5 p.c from 7,135 to 7,028. The findings are based mostly on semiannual stories submitted this 12 months by the highest 100 listed firms by income in 2024.
With the variety of workers rising and government positions shrinking, every government at a prime 100 firm now supervises a median of 123 staff. Executives, due to this fact, make up simply 0.82 p.c of the workforce, highlighting the steep competitors for the higher ranks.
The manager share, which fell from 0.95 p.c in 2011 to 0.76 p.c in 2021, edged as much as 0.84 p.c final 12 months earlier than dropping once more this 12 months by 0.2 proportion factors. This implies that incomes an government title has grow to be much more tough.
Among the many 4 main conglomerates, the variety of workers per government elevated throughout the board.
Samsung Electronics rose from 110 final 12 months to 117 this 12 months. Hyundai Motor climbed from 143 to 152, LG Electronics from 116.1 to 116.2, and SK hynix from 164 to 166. All 4 firms reported larger thresholds for government promotions in contrast with final 12 months.
Govt promotion odds different by trade. The securities sector confirmed the bottom stage of competitors, with one government for each 39 workers. It was adopted by commerce at 54, insurance coverage at 76, petrochemicals at 76, meals manufacturing at 97 and development at 98.
Hike in retirement age might speed up government reductions
On the opposite finish of the spectrum, distribution firms provided the bottom probabilities of reaching an government position, with only one government for each 331 workers, largely because of the sector’s excessive proportion of retail employees.
Oh Il-sun, head of the Korea CXO Analysis Institute, mentioned the typical tenure of executives at main Korean firms is simply over two years and that generational turnover is accelerating.
He mentioned, “If extending the retirement age to 65 turns into a actuality, firms will probably additional scale back the variety of executives and reorganize round key features so as to handle labor prices and organizational effectivity.”
He added that growing specialised expertise could also be extra advantageous for workers than competing for restricted government positions.
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Occasions, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Occasions.
