A survey finds that six out of ten large companies in the country have no plans for recruitment or have not made plans for new hires.

The Federation of Korean Industries released the outcome of its survey of the country's 500 largest companies in terms of sales.

According to the survey conducted by pollster Research and Research, 48 percent of the firms surveyed said that they have not yet made plans for new hires for the second half of the year, while 16-point-six percent said they have no plans for recruitment at all.

About 35 percent of the firms said that they have made plans for new hires, with 57-point-eight percent planning to hire at a similar level to last year and 24-point-four percent planning to reduce new hires. Only 17-point-eight percent said they would increase recruitment this year.

As for reasons for not hiring or not increasing new employees, 25-point-three percent of the businesses cited deteriorating profits and belt-tightening management to respond to uncertainties, while 19 percent named the prolonged global economic recession and a worsening economy due to high interest rates and exchange rates.

The companies in the survey predicted an average competition rate of 81-to-1 for new college graduates this year in the job market.