I'm afraid of the end of the year...Cutting jobs to big companies 'blind wind'

[Anchor]
Ahead of the year-end personnel season, the atmosphere of major companies is already restless.

This is because personnel appointments are blowing early as the business environment becomes difficult due to the prolonged economic downturn.

I'm reporter Choi Ah-young on the report.

[Reporter]
Samsung Electronics wrote a letter of apology for its first-ever earnings in the third quarter of this year, saying it was "sorry" for its lower-than-market expectations.

The semiconductor chief's unusual apology is being interpreted as a preview of the personnel shake-up with a high-intensity overhaul.

Inside and outside the industry, it is predicted that about 30% of the number of executives will be reduced at the end of the year.

[Lee Jae-yong / Chairman of Samsung Electronics (last 11th): (I heard there's an extraordinary personnel appointment related to personnel management…).) ...]

SK, which is losing weight due to the restructuring of the group, is rumored to have early presidential personnel appointments next month.

It is said that major affiliates have already received guidelines to reduce the number of executives.

On top of that, SK Telecom recently raised its employee retirement compensation to up to 300 million won and is receiving voluntary retirement for the first time in its history.

There is also a strong demand for job cuts in the distribution industry.

Lotte's convenience store affiliate, 7-Eleven, has started to reduce its workforce significantly from online and duty-free stores to offline, including voluntary retirement for the first time in 36 years.

[Kim Dae-jong / Professor of Business Administration at Sejong University] As Korean companies are suffering from high prices and high interest rates at home and abroad, / To reduce labor costs, which account for the largest fixed costs, and for companies to survive....]

As each company tries to reduce its size due to the deterioration of the business environment, the strong wind of personnel management at the end of the year is expected to be hotter than ever.

I'm YTN's Choi Ayoung.