Workforce Growth at Samsung Likely to Continue
The number of Samsung Electronics employees in South Korea has exceeded 100,000, with its Device Solutions (DS) Division accounting for more than half. The division had increased its pool of engineers during the semiconductor boom that continued until last year.
The Financial Supervisory Service announced on April 2 that Samsung Electronics had 75,748 male and 27,263 female employees in South Korea as of the end of 2018. The total number increased by 3.2 percent last year. The year-end number topped 100,000 for the first time since 2011, when Samsung Display was spun off. The number of its executives in the country fell from 1,049 to 1,044 in 2018.
The DS Division had 52,095 employees, 50.6 percent of the total and up 6.1 percent from a year earlier. The workforce of the Consumer Electronics (CE) Division edged down from 12,750 to 12,309, while that of the IT and Mobile (IM) Division rose from 27,541 to 27,886. The increase in the DS Division had to do with its performance improvement in the semiconductor industry and manufacturing facility expansion in Pyeongtaek.
The number of Samsung Electronics employees in South Korea is likely to increase for the time being. Last year, the company announced that it would invest 180 trillion won and hire 40,000 new employees until 2021. In addition, it is hiring more and more people in the fields of artificial intelligence, biotech, 5G communications and automotive electronics. It recently recruited renowned experts in robotics, big data and artificial intelligence, too.
At the same time, Samsung Electronics is planning to train a number of semiconductor majors by launching programs with local colleges. The company recently mentioned that it would increase the size of its industry-academic cooperation in semiconductor and display from 40 billion won to 100 billion won.