More than half of heavily indebted companies that fail to make earnings enough to make interest payments come from the manufacturing industry, which has been leading job creation in recent years.

According to a report by the Korea Employment Information Service, 52.2 percent of 17,841 companies with an interest-coverage ratio failing to reach 1 for a third consecutive year during the period of 2005-2014 were manufacturers.

An ICR going below 1 means the firm is not making earnings enough to make interest payments.

Within the manufacturing industry, the display sector had the largest proportion of companies with ICR going below 1 for more than three consecutive years, which stood at 31.9 percent. Next came the semiconductors with 23.7 percent, home appliances with 19.1 percent and steelmaking with 17.2 percent.