SEOUL, Mar. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s major commercial banks rewarded employees with significant pay raises last year, despite continuing a cost-cutting drive that saw further reductions in staffing levels and branch networks across the country, according to financial filings. An analysis by Yonhap News of the 2023 business reports disclosed by the nation’s four [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – As stubbornly high inflation persists, South Korean households are tightening their purse strings even on private education expenses, long considered the last bastion of family budgets, according to data released on March 18. BC Card, a major credit card company, reported a staggering 24 percent year-over-year plunge in education-related spending [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) opened a joint conference in Seoul on Monday to discuss ways to help Southeast Asian countries develop and transform their financial systems. The conference will be held for two days and discuss potential problems arising from the digitalization [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on Monday called for extra effort by government officials to bring inflation under control amid weak private consumption, his office said. Choi made the call during a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, where he also instructed them to come up [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – As concerns grow over household debt levels in South Korea, a new analysis has found that nearly one-third of those who have taken out loans from insurance companies are overwhelmed by obligations to multiple lenders, raising fears of potential defaults. The study by Lee Suk-ho, a senior research fellow at [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – A fresh analysis reveals that wages in South Korea now surpass those in Japan across both major corporations and smaller enterprises, marking a significant shift over the past two decades. The Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) unveiled a comprehensive report titled “International Comparison and Implications of Korea-Japan Wage Trends” on Sunday, [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean economy has been on a recovery track on the solid growth of exports, but disparities among sectors remain wide amid weak consumption and investment, the finance ministry said Friday. “As shown in manufacturing production and exports, the country has seen an economic recovery and a stable [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – The financial regulator said Thursday it revised a stewardship code for institutional investors to encourage them to join a corporate value-up scheme. The revised code urges institutional investors to “check to make sure the companies they invest in establish and implement long-term strategies to improve their corporate value,” and [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Two years into the era of high inflation, elusive price increases led by fruits and vegetables such as apples, pears, and green onions continue to burden consumers. Following the hike in gasoline and the cost of eating out in previous years, the soaring prices of everyday food items have become [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent study has highlighted the correlation between worsening economic conditions and higher suicide rates, emphasizing the significant impact of a 1% decrease in the employment rate on youth suicide fatalities, which rise by 1.7%. Conducted by the Korea Labor Institute, the research, titled “Economic Shocks and Suicide,” explores the [...]