Polarization, a predominant phenomenon in the South Korean economy, is seen in the job market as well, as bigger companies plan to hire more college graduates than smaller firms in the second half of the year, a local online recruitment agent said An online survey of 338 companies by JobKorea found 48.5 percent, or 164 respondents, will create entry-level jobs for college graduates in the remaining months of the year. The nation's top 500 companies in terms of sales were contacted for the survey. The number of job openings for college graduate seeking work is expected to drop four percent from a year earlier to 15,543 in the second half of this year. About 30 percent or 101 companies said they have no hiring plan in that period with 18 percent saying they have yet to decide whether or not to hire college graduates in the second half. The survey also showed that bigger firms create more jobs than smaller ones. Job openings at companies listed in the top 100 in terms of sales is expected to grow 2.9 percent to 11,936 or 76.8 percent of the total job creation. By contrast, firms between top 100 and top 300 said they will cut their job openings by 21. 5 percent to 3,607 in the second half of the year from the same period last year. "Bigger firms are creating more jobs for college graduates. The nation's top 100 companies offered 71.6 percent of the total job openings in the same survey last year," a JobKorea official said. As for recruitment plans announced by the top 10 conglomerates, LG Electronics will recruit 1,000 college graduates in the fall. "It is a large-scale hiring plan, considering the trend of companies being unwilling to recruit entry-level job candidates, he added. Samsung Electronics said it has a hiring plan for the second half but has yet to decide on the scope of the hiring or the timeline. Hyundai Motor and the SK Group, the nation's second and fourth largest conglomerates, plan to hire 600 college graduates each in the fall. In addition, SK will offer 500 jobs to experienced workers. Industries which will be hiring in the second half of the year include electric and electronics, finance, shipbuilding and heavy industries and information and technology (IT). The electric and electronics industry will take the lead in job creation, hiring 5,670 college graduates, followed by the financial sector with 1,396 new jobs. The heavy and shipbuilding industries will offer 562 jobs, while the IT area will create 540 jobs. The service, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries, all of which are struggling with falling sales, cut their hiring this year. Job openings in those three industries in the second half are expected to fall by 40.7 percent, 27.8 percent and 18.3 percent, respectively, in the second half, the survey predicted. Despite the hiring plans of the country's leading conglomerates, Kim Hwa-soo, president of JobKorea, forecasts Korean youth will continue to struggle to begin their careers.