The number of jobs at eight South Korean conglomerates rose 8.7 percent last year as companies acquired affiliates and expanded into new business areas, data showed Sunday.

The tallied conglomerate groups, including tech behemoth Samsung and auto giant Hyundai Motor, employed 622,000 people as of the end of 2011, compared with 572,000 the previous year, according to the data they provided to Yonhap News Agency.

The eight conglomerate groups are Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK, LG, POSCO, Hyundai Heavy Industries, GS and Hanwha.

The on-year increase is more than five times larger than the country’s 2011 employment growth rate of 1.7 percent.

The data also showed that the major business groups increased their number of permanent workers last year, with Samsung and LG spearheading the move.

The number of permanent workers at LG jumped 11.8 percent on-year to 123,000, while the comparable figure for Samsung rose 10.5 percent to 210,000.

Hyundai Motor, which saw strong growth last year, also increased its number of permanent employees by 8.2 percent to 136,000.

Market watchers said the gain came on the heels of robust takeover moves, but added local business groups also beefed up employment as part of efforts to foster their growth engines.

“Large enterprises can easily become laggards if they refrain from investment in facilities and human resources,” said an industry official. “They are likely to continue to create more jobs as part of their drive to invest in new businesses.” 

(Yonhap News)