According to the Korea Small Business Institute and Statistics Korea, the number of employees at small and medium-sized enterprises marked 24.314 million in September, which was 436,000 fewer than a year prior.

The number of employees at SMEs continued to drop on-year for the past seven months, largely due to the economic slowdown upon the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of employees at large firms, on the other hand, increased 44,000 in September from to a year prior to reach 2.698 million.

By company, employment at Samsung Electronics increased 1,608 as of the end of June compared to a year ago. The number increased by 210 at Hyundai Motor and 841 at SK hynix.
 
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)