Contract workers made up one-in-five of all jobs in local brokerages as firms cut back on their regular workforce in the face of a prolonged market slump, data by a local capital investment organization showed Tuesday.
According to Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA), in the five years up through 2014, contract workers accounted for between 16-18 percent of all workers, but jumped to over 20 percent as of December. It said there were some 7,411 contract employees working for 64 securities firms in the country, up nearly 10 percent on-year and equal to 20.5 percent of the total workforce, which sits at 36,161.
Buildings of securities firms in Seoul (Yonhap)
At the same time, the number of regular workers with greater job security contracted 4 percent to 27,274 from 28,401.
"Securities firms increasingly prefer to hire workers with fixed-term contracts as they could cut costs such as welfare benefits and severance pay compared to permanent workers," said KOFIA spokesman Lee Beom-seok. "China's recent stock meltdown and increased market volatility will continue to weigh on the securities industry for some time, and can lead to more contract positions."
KOKIA pointed out that Meritz Securities had 839 contract employees, equal to 60.4 percent of its total payroll, while one-third of workers at Hana Financial Investment were hired contract workers as of late last year.
Market watchers said that as advances in financial sector technology make headway, stock trading through traditional brokerage outlets is expected to decline. Such a development can lead to more cuts of regular positions
Related to the cuts in the workforce, the latest numbers by KOFIA showed the total amount of analysts at the research arms of 58 local brokerages dropped nearly 8 percent to 1,075 as of Tuesday from 1,168 tallied a year earlier. (Yonhap)
