Major business groups have expanded their employment plan for this year despite economic uncertainties as part of efforts to join the government-led drive to tackle the high youth unemployment, a report showed Tuesday.
  

South Korea's 13 largest conglomerates by assets plan to hire 103,000 people this year, 10 percent up from an earlier plan, according to the data compiled by the Federation of Korean Industries.
  

Seven groups, including Samsung and SK, decided to increase the number of new employees, while six others stuck with their initial plans, the business lobby group said.
  

Economic policymakers have encouraged major conglomerates to create more jobs to ease the high youth unemployment and revive Asia's fourth-largest economy. 
  

South Korea's unemployment rate for people between the ages of 15 and 29 stood at 8 percent in August, much higher than the 3.4 percent tallied for the entire nation. The country's job creation also plummeted to the lowest level seen in six years last month.
  

Earlier this month, labor, management and government representatives reached an agreement to improve the rigidity of the nation's labor market.
  

The deal, which needs to be approved by lawmakers, also aims to promote the government-initiated wage peak system, which calls for workers nearing the retirement age to accept cuts in pay. The money saved by the arrangement will then be used to hire new employees. (Yonhap)