Recruitment of production workers at large corporations, Ulsan’s ‘Two Landscapes’

Applicants flock to Hyundai Motor and oil refineries
The shipbuilding industry is ‘urgent’ to find foreigners

Large companies such as automobiles, petrochemicals, and shipbuilding, which have their main workplaces in Ulsan, started hiring production workers (technical workers) one following another this year, but preferences for each industry are sharply divided.

Hyundai Motor is accepting applications for employment from the 2nd to the 12th to hire 400 new production workers in the first half of this year. Those who passed the training will be assigned to the Ulsan, Jeonju, and Asan factories in September and October. It is the first time in 10 years since 2013 that Hyundai Motor Company has hired production workers. This year, there are no restrictions on age, major, or academic background, so existing office workers are interested in it. The average annual salary for technical workers at Hyundai Motor Company is 96 million won in 2021, approaching 100 million won. The retirement age of 60 is guaranteed, and job seekers and office workers are showing interest as they can work for one more year as a contract worker following retirement. The Hyundai Motor Company recruitment site was paralyzed for a while.

Oil refineries in Ulsan are also hiring production workers. S-Oil plans to close the application process on the 24th of last month and select successful applicants through a written test, an artificial intelligence (AI) competency test, an interview, and a physical test. SK Innovation Ulsan Complex is also planning to hire around 100 production workers in the second half of the year. Oil refining companies have the highest wages among manufacturing companies and are guaranteed a better retirement age than office workers, so competition is fierce every year.

On the other hand, the shipbuilding industry is experiencing a boom due to recent orders for eco-friendly high value-added ships, but it is still suffering from a labor shortage. The domestic youth are in a hurry to hire foreigners as they turn away from the shipbuilding industry. Low wages, high work intensity, and poor working environment are reasons for avoiding them.

In particular, the shipbuilding industry has not recovered since 2016, when it began large-scale manpower restructuring focusing on field workers. According to the Shipbuilding and Marine Human Resources Development Committee, the number of production workers needed in the shipbuilding industry was short of 9,000 as of the end of last year, and is expected to be short of 14,000 by the end of this year.

The government expanded the quota for foreign workers by prioritizing the shipbuilding industry, and also increased the speed of visa screening for low-skilled workers. An official from the industry in Ulsan said, “Recruitment of production workers at Hyundai Motor Company is so popular that even test papers and passing genealogies are being sold.

Reporter Park Jeong-hoon from Ulsan