South Korea’s top 30 conglomerates saw their employees grow 24.9 percent in 2012 from four years earlier excluding gains from merger and acquisition deals, data showed Monday.

The combined number of employees at the country’s top 30 business groups came to 1.12 million last year, rising 209,899 from 842,156 tallied in 2008, according to the data by a financial information provider Chaebul.com.

CJ Group, a local food and entertainment conglomerate, saw the number of its employees reach 46,271 in 2012, a two-fold gain from 18,840 tallied in 2008.

Samsung Group, the country’s No. 1 business group which holds the world’s top smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co. under its wing, saw its workforce advance 25.5 percent to 257,047 over the cited period.

Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest carmaker, saw the number of its employees reach 147,754 last year, climbing 11.1 percent from 2008, excluding gains from the acquisition of Hyundai Construction & Engineering Co. (Yonhap News)