The total is up from 18 companies that hired people in the second half of last year and comes as 17 affiliates of South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate, or chaebol, already increased their workforces in the first half of the year.

Samsung, like other chaebol, has said it will do its part to help with the country's sluggish job market that had been experiencing a downturn as key industries restructure themselves to better cope with changing times.

Official data showed the country's jobless number hit an eight-year high of 4.2 percent last month, with newly created jobs rising by just 3,000, the smallest since January 2010, when the country was struggling from the fallout of the 2009 global financial meltdown.

In particular, Samsung Heavy Industries, which had not hired new workers since 2016, has announced it will start hiring designers, production managers, overseas sales and finance experts, and accountants, as it strives to more forward after some tough years in the shipbuilding industry.

Market watchers said that while the exact number of people Samsung companies plan to hire has yet to be checked, the move can cause other large companies to follow suit going forward. (Yonhap)