Hyundai autoworker: Dream job for many South Koreans

In South Korea, blue-collar work has for decades been shunned by job seekers because of the hard manual labor as well as the widely held perception that it is inferior to white-collar employment in office settings.

Everything changes with time.

Hyundai Motor Co., the country’s top automaker, on Thursday began a hiring process to recruit 400 new employees to work on its production lines in Ulsan, nearly 400 km southeast of Seoul, and other suburban cities – the carmaker’s first plant work hiring in a decade.

As soon as the company began receiving applications online early in the morning, the recruitment website was almost paralyzed with a pop-up message showing more than 10,000 people unable to access for at least half an hour.

By 3 p.m., the wait list has grown longer, forcing applicants to wait for more than an hour to sign in.

“Hyundai plants are located outside of Seoul, far from here. But the jobs are guaranteed until you reach the legal work age limit of 60 just like public servants. Besides, the pay is as high as or even higher than salaried workers at a large company. Stupid if you don’t even try and apply,” said a job seeker in Seoul.

LAVISH CONDITIONS

In a country where militant labor unions have staged strikes for higher wages almost every year over the past few decades, unionized workers at Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Corp. have been among those notorious hardliners.

Over the years, Hyundai and Kia workers’ wages have significantly increased in addition to huge benefits, including deep discounts on their car purchases even after retirement.

According to industry data, a Hyundai plant worker was paid 96 million won ($73,004) a year on average as of 2021 – a level higher than most white-collar workers at big companies such as Samsung and LG. Starting salaries, including bonuses, for Hyundai car production workers, are also known to go above 60 million won.

On the back of its rising sales and profits, Hyundai Motor plans to hire an additional 300 factory workers in 2024. Applicants for the total 700 plant jobs could reach more than 100,000, industry watchers said.

In Korea, Hyundai’s union has often been referred to as the “noble labor union,” because of their high pay and aggressive demands.

More recently, it is not uncommon to hear job seekers say “kingsanjik,” a portmanteau of king and factory worker, to refer to Hyundai auto workers.

The company said it accepts applications online by March 12. Successful candidates will go through job interviews and the final 400 will start their dream jobs at Hyundai plants as early as September.

Write to Han-Shin Park at phs@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.