• Coupang signs employment MOU with Changwon City and the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Changwon District Office to create new jobs for local residents
• Company to actively hire women and the elderly to address employment gaps
• Thousands of new local jobs are created every time Coupang adds a new fulfillment center; company has established over 100 centers nationwide to date

SEOUL, Apr. 15, 2021 – Coupang today announced plans to hire 3,200 employees in Changwon, the company’s latest step towards its goal of creating 50,000 new jobs in Korea by 2025. Under the MOU signed with Changwon City and the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Changwon District Office, the company will prioritize the hiring of local residents in its ongoing commitment to promote regional job creation and development.

Coupang’s investment approach has been fairly unique in the Korean logistics industry, as the company has focused its resources on regions relatively lacking in logistics infrastructure as opposed to denser metropolitan areas. Coupang has adopted this approach in order to support balanced regional development in Korea, which it views as fundamental to the long-term growth of both the company and the country.

To date, the company has built over 100 independent fulfillment centers in over 30 cities across the nation, with each new Coupang fulfillment center creating thousands of jobs for local residents. The company has also been actively hiring women and the elderly to address employment gaps often present in such regions. In 2020 alone, the company directly created nearly 25,000 new jobs, and announced investment plans to build seven new regional fulfillment centers totaling one trillion won.

“Coupang has a proven record of investing deeply in local communities,” said Changwon Mayor Sung-moo Huh. “We look forward to working with Coupang to create thousands of good jobs in our city, develop our local infrastructure using the company’s innovative technology, and establish the foundations for long-term mutual growth.”

Hae-jong Yoo, the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Changwon District Director, said, “While the labor situation has been difficult due to the ongoing pandemic, we expect the operation of Coupang’s Jinhae Fulfillment Center to create many new jobs.” He added, “Our district office will work proactively with Coupang to create more jobs in Jinhae, which has been designated as an employment crisis area, and also work towards revitalizing the economy and stabilizing employment for workers.”

Coupang’s hiring announcement comes just one week after the company announced its MOU to invest over 300 billion won to build three fulfillment centers in the South Gyeongsang Province, including two in Changwon. It has already launched the process to hire around 100 local residents by early next month to prepare for the opening of the Coupang Jinhae Fulfillment Center, and is expected to finish hiring 3,200 employees in Changwon by next year. “We are very pleased to announce that we have begun hiring Changwon residents so soon after our MOU announcement last week,” said Myung-kyu Kim, Coupang’s Senior Director of Logistics Policy. “Coupang’s establishment of logistics infrastructure paves the way for the creation of good jobs, and we will continue prioritizing local residents in our hiring to support regional economies even as we improve our services for customers.”