SEOUL, KOREA - Samsung Electronics has hired more than 50,000 new employees this year to date. According to the company on November 15, its payroll numbers worldwide are 326,000 (including those hired in Samsung Display), up 52,000 from 274,000 at the end of 2012.

 

A high-ranking official with the company said, "By the end of this year, that figure will break the 330,000 level." Given the employee number was 162,000 at the end of 2008, this is more than double in five years.

 

Of the 326,000 employees, those hired in overseas plants and offices are more than 200,000. Of the 52,000 workers hired this year too, 40,000 are those hired outside Korea. For example, the factories such as Vietnam's Thai Nguyen mobile phone plants and the Suzhou (China) LCD plant hired tens of thousands new production line employees while Samsung Electronics units in the United States and Israel brought in a large number of software developers and designers for their R&D centers.

 

The company also increased the payroll in Korea by about 10,000, mostly in R&D area, including the mobile R&D center "R5" in Suwon and the electronic component cluster nearby. Next month, another 10,000 will be hired in its component R&D center to be open in Hwaseong.