[THE INVESTOR] Leading retailers are planning more hiring this year in step with the new government’s emphasis on jobs, industry watchers said on May 24.

Lotte Group, which owns a chain of department stores and supermarkets, hired 13,300 new employees last year. It said it will try to maintain that level this year as well, despite the heavy financial damage from boycotts in China, one of the conglomerate‘s largest overseas consumer markets. Lotte also plans to switch some 10,000 irregular positions to permanent ones over the next three years.

Shinsegae Group, Lotte’s rival, said it will rehire the best-performing store managers as full-time employees and give them corresponding benefits.

Hyundai Department Store Group is expected to increase its hirings this year to 2,600, about 100 more than last year. Homeplus, a discount chain, said it will shift its part-time workers to full-time employees by March 2019.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)