Coupang becomes Korea’s 2nd-largest employer in 2023

[Photo by Yonhap]

Coupang Inc., South Korea’s largest online retail platform company, became the second-largest employer in the country in 2023 after Samsung Electronics Co., overtaking Hyundai Motor Co., an analysis showed on Thursday.

Although a significant number of Coupang workers are on short-term contracts, the company is considered to be serving as a job ladder for young people who are struggling to find work and for middle-aged women whose careers have been interrupted by childcare and other reasons.

According to an analysis by Maeil Business Newspaper of employment data from workplaces registered with the National Pension Service, the number of workers directly employed by Coupang and its logistics subsidiaries was 69,057 at the end of last year, more than 600 more than Hyundai Motor’s 68,427.

Samsung Electronics had the highest number of employees with 120,877.

Founded in 2010, Coupang climbed to third place in the corporate employment rankings in 2020, just ten years after its establishment, overtaking LG Electronics Inc. The e-commerce company then rose to second place in just three years.

Coupang saw its employment numbers surge by nearly 40,000 in just two years as the non-face-to-face delivery market grew rapidly following the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Although the number fell by about 10,000 in 2022 following an endemic, it increased again by 13,391 last year, proving the company’s stable job creation capability.

However, a significant number of workers employed by Coupang’s logistics center subsidiary, Coupang Fulfillment Services (CFS), or its delivery subsidiary, Coupang Logistics Services (CLS), are on short-term contracts of 1 to 2 years.

Industry insiders noted that it is difficult to simply compare Coupang’s employment numbers with those of other large companies with a higher ratio of regular employees.

Of Coupang’s entire workforce as of the first half of 2023, 20,000 were young adults aged between 19 and 34, and 48 percent of the employees working at its logistics and delivery centers were women.