DEEP ANALYSIS

Are Job Postings Increasing or Decreasing? The Two Faces of the 2026 Hiring Market Told by Numbers

While job openings (1.464 million, +3.4%) and hires (1.368 million, +4.6%) increased in the first quarter of 2026, planned hires for the second and third quarters (460,000) fell below the shortage of workers (467,000) for the first time since statistics began. Entry-level regular job postings at major corporations plummeted 43% year-over-year between January and November 2025, and only 2.6% of private platform postings in the first half of the year were for entry-level applicants. Employed persons decreased for the first time in 17 months (-40,000) in May, with youth employment plunging by 255,000, concentrating the shock on young people. Although the proportion of companies planning new hires rebounded to 66.6% in a Korea Enterprises Federation survey, the "format" of hiring shifted completely to rolling recruitment (54.8%) and job-experience-centric evaluation (67.6%). Global data from Gartner and Indeed also point to conservative hiring driven by AI transformation, making the second half of the year a critical turning point that will distinguish temporary adjustment from structural contraction.