Two out of 5 employees of large businesses are irregular workers, according to a government survey which highlighted the level of job insecurity in Korea.

According to the data on types of employment in 3,233 companies, nearly 39 percent of 4.6 million Korean workers at large companies were hired temporarily by the companies or outsourced recruitment firms.

Of the total number of workers, 918,000 laborers, or 20 percent, were hired by outsourced firms and dispatched to conglomerates, mostly in the building and shipping industries.

Eight out of 10 Koreans were directly hired by companies, but 23 percent of them were on temporary contracts.

There have been rising concerns over the working conditions for temporary workers hired by external human resources firms who are then sent to conglomerates’ factories or construction sites.

Labor circles have pointed out that they provide the same amount of work as permanently hired employees, but are paid less, leading to widening income disparity.

The management bloc, however, believes that a flexible labor market is necessary in Korea‘s export-driven economy to lower production costs and maintain competitive edge over their foreign competitors.

According to the data, the larger-sized companies were more likely to “indirectly” hire workers through outsourced firms. The firms with more than 1,000 employees had 23 percent of their workers recruited by human resources firms while those with less than 1,000 employees had only 13.4 percent indirectly hired.

By industry, the construction sector, especially shipping and steel companies, generated the most temporary jobs at 44.6 percent, followed by the art and sports industry at 27.1 percent, manufacturing industry at 25 percent and retail sector at 22.9 percent.

“When conglomerates hire workers through human resources agencies or their suppliers, it gets easier for them to dodge responsibility to protect them at work,” said Park Sung-sik, a spokesperson for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

“The level of ‘indirect employment’ in the construction industry is associated with the high number of industrial accidents,” he added.

Since last year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor made it mandatory for companies with more than 300 staff members to release the information on the number of their employees in both temporary and permanent positions. The move comes as part of efforts to encourage Korean companies to improve their hiring structure through peer assessment, the government said.

But the Korea Employers Federation blasted the scheme for “fixing the image that temporary jobs are low-quality and should be reduced in number.” The organization also pointed out loopholes in the system that it claimed makes it impossible to fully evaluate the job situation here.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)