The companies include Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK, LG and Lotte.

Financial companies and state-run firms were excluded from the list.

Of them all, the top 10 business groups led by Samsung seek to recruit a combined 79,144 workers this year, which accounted for 62.6 percent of the total planned employment. It is still down 1.6 percent from a year earlier, the survey showed.

The survey showed that 16 business groups plan to reduce their new employment this year, with only nine pushing to expand recruitment.

The fall in planned recruitment underlines the toughened employment market for job seekers.

Government data showed that the country's jobless rate stood at 4.3 percent in March, though it fell from the previous month's 4.9 percent. The jobless rate for younger people under 30 was much higher at 11.8 percent last month. (Yonhap)