Three-fourths of large companies in South Korea have no hiring plan or have not confirmed their recruiting scheme for the second half of the year amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Sunday.

Half of the companies that responded to the Korea Economic Research Institute's (KERI) survey answered that they have not set their hiring plans yet, while 24.2 percent of the firms said they will not offer jobs in the second half.

The survey, conducted by Research & Research, asked South Korea's top 500 firms by sales and received answers from 120 companies.

The results indicate the country's job market will be worse than the first half of the year, when 41.3 percent of the firms answered that they have not confirmed hiring plans or have no plans of opening jobs.

Of the companies that have recruiting plans for the second half of 2020, only 22.6 percent said they will hire more people than the last year.

When asked why they cannot offer more jobs in the second half, nearly 70 percent blamed the fallout from COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 19 percent of the companies have already adopted a remote hiring system, while 35 percent of the firms are considering using such an online recruiting system. (Yonhap)