Major Korean companies are forecast to cut their hiring of new employees only slightly next year despite increasing economic uncertainties and a possible slowdown, a poll showed Sunday.

According to the survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 262 companies plan to hire a combined 28,412 people in 2012, down a mere 1.3 percent, or 365, from this year.

The survey covered the country’s top 500 companies by sales, of which 325 responded, the KCCI said.

“Despite all the negative economic factors, major companies are poised to hire workers at a similar level to this year. Uncertainty in the job market is unlikely to swell in the new year,” said the KCCI. “If big companies increase employment more than their original plan, the labor market might turn around.”

A total of 33 companies, or 10.1 percent of the respondents, said they have no plans to create jobs in the coming year, while 63 companies, or 19.4 percent, said that they have yet to decide on whether to increase their payrolls.

South Korea’s jobless rate stood at 2.9 percent in November, down from 3 percent in the same month a year earlier. 

(Yonhap News)