The labor costs for South Korean conglomerates have risen during the first half of the year although their bottom lines suffered a setback from an economic slowdown, data showed Wednesday.

The total amount paid by 271 affiliate firms under the country's top 30 conglomerates to workers came to 33.47 trillion won ($28.4 billion) in the January-June period, up 4.7 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by corporate researcher CEO Score.

In contrast, the companies' net profit dropped 6.4 percent, or 1.84 trillion won, over the cited period. Sales and operating income also shed 7.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, the data showed.

The portion of wages to overall sales stood at 5.9 percent in the first half, also up 0.7 percentage point over the cited period, the data showed.

By business group, the proportion of payroll costs relative to sales was the highest for No.2 mobile carrier KT Corp. at 11.5 percent, followed by Doosan Group at 11.2 percent and LG Group at 8.3 percent.

The country's largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, ranked 12th with a labor cost-to-sales ratio of 6.5 percent, while auto giant Hyundai Motor Group came in at 11th place with 6.7 percent.

The figure for S-Oil was the lowest at 1.4 percent, with GS Group trailing at 2.5 percent, according to the data. (Yonhap)