Big firms encourage employees to use annual paid leave

Major South Korean companies have encouraged their employees to take their annual leave, a survey showed Thursday, as the country pushes its people to better strive for work-life balance.The survey of 155 major South Korean firms released by the Korea Economic Research Institute, a private think tank, found that 52.3 percent of the companies polled said annual leave was the best implemented of 10 proposals drawn up by the government in 2016 to help people strike a balance between work and life,

June 21, 2018

S. Korea’s macroeconomic policy had effect on growth: OECD report

South Korea’s notable economic advancement over recent years was largely attributable to its conglomerate-led and export-oriented growth model, backed by sound fiscal and monetary policies and intense investment into physical and human capital, according to an international report.Asia’s fourth-largest economy, however, has also exposed some chronic structural weaknesses such as market monopolization by conglomerates, discrimination in the job market, and elderly poverty. In a b

June 20, 2018

Concerns rising over industrial hollowing-out

Concerns are growing over the possible hollowing-out of Korea’s key manufacturing industries as local companies rush to move factories to countries with better conditions to detour anti-business policies at home and global trade friction.According to industrial sources, 97.1 percent of TV sets made by Korean electronics firms in 2017 were manufactured at overseas plants. The corresponding figures reached 93.2 percent for mobile phones, 86.9 percent for washing machines and 80.3 percent for

June 20, 2018

SMEs association proposes tech training as priority for inter-Korean economic cooperation

South Korean small businesses on Wednesday proposed operating an inter-Korean technology training center and inviting global companies to a joint industrial complex with North Korea to expedite cross-border economic cooperation.The Korea Federation of SMEs recommended nine South-North businesses, explained in detail in its report to the government in April, which emphasizes technological education as the first priority in pursuing cooperation with the North.  While North Korean workers have

June 20, 2018

Public institutions cutting back on hiring of high school graduates

Public institutions are hiring more people, but not those without college degrees, government statistics showed Wednesday.According to state portal All Public Information in One, 361 state-run institutions employed 22,560 people in permanent positions last year. The proportion of hires for whom high school was their highest educational attainment was 1,858, or 8.2 percent.The latest figure marks a 30.6 percent increase in overall hiring from 2013 but a drop of 7.9 percent for employment of peopl

June 20, 2018

Finance minister vows to overhaul assessment system for state firms

The government will push to overhaul the evaluation process for state-invested firms so as to help improve their trustworthiness, which has been tarnished by job-related irregularities, and boost job creation, the country's chief economic policymaker said Tuesday."State firms are urged to raise their productivity and effectiveness as well and play a key role in creating and spearheading a system for innovative growth," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a meeting to review state fi

June 20, 2018

BOK chief vows to focus on growth, inflation in rate policy

The Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol on Tuesday underlined that the key factors in the nation’s upcoming policy rate decisions should be growth and inflation indexes, dismissing concerns that Washington’s recent signals to accelerate its monetary tightening cycle will press Seoul to follow suit.While sidestepping direct remarks, his defensive tone regarding the nation’s economic capacity empowered speculations that Seoul will freeze its policy rate next month and delay

June 19, 2018

Job data heighten calls for policy shift

Calls are growing for President Moon Jae-in’s administration to readjust its income-led growth policy, which experts say has been only worsening unemployment and low-income households’ livelihoods.According to the latest data from Statistics Korea, the country’s jobless rate stood at 4 percent last month, up from 3.6 percent in May last year, when Moon took office. The figure for young people aged 15-29 rose from 9.2 percent to 10.5 percent over the cited period.The overall and

June 18, 2018

Govt. to step up readjustment of budget spending to boost job creation, innovative growth

SEJONG -- The government said Monday that it will continue its efforts to realign budget spending in a way to tackle the country's chronic low birth rate, boost job creation and facilitate innovative growth."The government will focus on the three key policies by improving the country's overall budget spending scheme," Deputy Finance Minister Kim Yong-jin said in a policy meeting.Kim said government agencies are urged to actively respond to changes in policy implementation and to do mor

June 18, 2018

Job cuts most serious for 30s and 40s: data

While South Korea’s employment indexes continued to struggle amid controversies on increased minimum wage, the job decreasing rate turned out to be the most drastic for the primary labor force age clusters in their 30s and 40s, data showed Sunday. The number of newly employed people in their 40s stood at 669.7 million in May, down 88,000 from the same period last year and marking a decline for 31 consecutive months, according to data released by Statistics Korea.This was the longest period

June 17, 2018

S. Korea's jobless rate rises in May, job creation lowest in over 8 yrs

South Korea's jobless rate rose slightly in May due to a fall in employment in the retail, manufacturing and educational service sectors, while job creation remained sluggish, government data showed Friday.The unemployment rate stood at 4 percent last month, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier, marking the highest rate recorded for May in 18 years, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of employed people reached 27.06 million in May, up 72,000 from a year earlie

June 15, 2018

ECB to keep interest rates at record lows at least through summer

The European Central Bank on Thursday said it expected key interest rates to remain at their current historic lows "at least through the summer of 2019."The Frankfurt institution's main refinancing rate currently stands at zero percent, the rate on the marginal lending facility at 0.25 percent, and the rate on deposits at -0.4 percent, meaning banks pay to park money with the ECB. (AFP)

June 14, 2018

US rate hike likely to have limited impact on Korea: officials

As the United States carried out its anticipated rate hike this week, South Korea faces mounting pressure to keep pace with the momentum amid prolonged slow growth and chronic household debt.In a largely defensive gesture, key fiscal and monetary officials here said that the impact of the US rate hike would be limited, though they vowed anticipative measures for the potential consequences of the faster-than-expected rate hike timeline that has been signaled. “The Fed’s latest rate hi

June 14, 2018

Banks preparing for possible resumption of inter-Korean projects

South Korean banks have stepped up preparations for a possible resumption of economic projects in North Korea, as a historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un raised hopes of more reconciliation between Seoul and Pyongyang.After about five hours of talks in Singapore on Tuesday, Trump and Kim signed a joint statement committing to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." But the statement fell short on details of how the North'

June 14, 2018

Denuclearization talks may give momentum to new economic road map for 2 Koreas

President Moon Jae-in's "new economic road map" for the Korean Peninsula may get its needed momentum once North Korea's denuclearization gets on track, with details getting added to the unified market and economic cooperation belts that he envisioned, according to watchers here Thursday.Prospects of improved and even new economic tieups with the North brightened after the historic North Korea-US summit in Singapore on Tuesday. The premise is that the international sanctions imposed on

June 14, 2018

Korea needs a boost to domestic demand

With the prospects for Korea’s exports in the coming years dimming, there is increased pressure to expand domestic demand, particularly by promoting service industries through drastic deregulation.A downturn in exports, which have shored up Asia’s fourth-largest economy in recent years amid sluggish domestic demand, could rattle it unless offset by an increase in local consumption and investment, experts say.According to recent data from the Bank of Korea, exports made a 1.8 percenta

June 13, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Major research institutes, ministries join peace mood of US-NK summit

South Korea’s state-owned energy corporations and think tanks have recently been observed empowering their inter-Korean economic cooperation functions, in anticipation that the latest US-North Korea talks for denuclearization may open the door to the long-secluded northern part of the peninsula.While research institutes made gestures to expand their related research, ministries and state-owned entities largely remained cautious and settled for subtle personnel readjustments, keeping an eye

June 12, 2018

Weak manufacturing increases employment woes

Korea is lagging behind in global competition to enhance the productivity and employment of manufacturing industries, experts here say.Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its manufacturing sector’s proportion of gross domestic product shrink from 31.36 percent in 2011 to 29.33 percent in 2016, according to data from the World Bank. The corresponding figure for member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development rose by 1.1 percentage points on average over the ci

June 11, 2018

Seoul’s stock market buzzes ahead of Trump-Kim summit

Seoul’s stock market is expected to be highly active this week, with investors optimistic about the widely tipped momentum following the Washington-Pyongyang summit on Tuesday. All the while, monetary policymakers are tense over expected rate hikes by the United States and European Union later in the week.While guarding against excessive optimism, market observers suggested that the eased peninsular tension would encourage foreign investment by leading to a stronger won. “Should the

June 11, 2018

Self-employed biz earnings growth falls to 6-year low in 2017: report

The earnings growth rate for South Korea's self-employed businesses fell to a six-year low in 2017 amid social and economic changes under way in Asia's fourth-largest market, official data showed Sunday.Profit growth by relatively small, self-employed businesses reached 1 percent last year compared with 2016, information provided by Statistics Korea showed. This is the worst showing after a 0.7 percent increase tallied in 2011.Industry watchers said the falling off of workplace-related eating an

June 10, 2018