Assets, profits of top 4 biz groups rise in S. Korea, but employment stays flat

Seoul, May 20 (IANS) South Korea's top four biggest business groups -- Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor and LG -- have seen significant growth in assets and net profits over the past three years but little change in employment levels, a market tracker said on Tuesday.

The combined assets of the top four business groups totalled 1,444.8 trillion won (US$1,039 billion) in 2024, up from 1,360 trillion won in 2023 and 1,255.7 trillion won in 2022, according to the Leaders Index.

Their assets have been on a steady rise since topping the 1,000 trillion-won mark in 2019, reports Yonhap news agency.

The big four's combined assets accounted for 53.1 percent of the total assets held by the country's 30 largest conglomerates in 2024.

Their net profit also soared 30.8 percent over the 2022-2024 period, while the top 30's net profit edged up 0.8 percent.

However, the Leaders Index noted that the increase in assets and profits has not led to a parallel rise in hiring.

The number of employees in the top four groups remained nearly unchanged, rising from 745,000 in 2022 to 746,000 in 2024.

The 30 largest groups, on the other hand, saw their total number of employees increase by 8.8 percent over the period, from 1.4 million to 1.52 million.

Meanwhile, the value of South Korea's virtual asset market nearly doubled in the second half of last year from six months earlier, on rising prices of cryptocurrencies, data showed on Tuesday.

The market capitalisation of the virtual asset market had come to 107.7 trillion won ($77.6 billion) as of end-2024, up 51.2 trillion won, or 91 percent from six months ago, according to the data from the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

The total value of Korean won deposits made by traders also jumped 114 percent to 10.7 trillion won, while the operating profit of market operators advanced 28 percent to 742 billion won over the cited period.

There had been 25 virtual asset market operators in South Korea as of end-2024, including 17 crypto exchanges, according to the financial regulator.

In the six months ended December 31, the average value of daily crypto transactions reached 7.3 trillion won, up 22 percent from the daily average of 6 trillion won in the first half of 2024, according to the FSC.

--IANS

na/