SEJONG, Sept. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Subscriptions to the state employment insurance fell steeply in the accommodation and food service industries last month amid strict social distancing rules prompted by the fourth wave of COVID-19, the labor ministry said Tuesday. The number of subscribers in the lodging and food service sectors stood at 648,000 in [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The amount of payments made electronically hit a record high in the first half of this year, central bank data showed Monday, as the COVID-19 pandemic prompted more people to engage in contact-free commerce. The daily average amount of electronic financial transactions came to 863.5 billion won (US$738 million) [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Almost half of South Korea’s listed companies cut their workforce in the first half of the year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a think tank said Monday. In particular, the downtrend in their payrolls is likely to last for a considerable period of time due to the [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of social enterprises certified by the government has reached over 3,000, with a majority of the firms committed to providing jobs to underprivileged people, according to officials Sunday. The labor ministry’s expert committee on social enterprise development on Wednesday certified 97 businesses as new government-approved social enterprises, [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — September has reported the highest number of bicycle accident deaths over the past decade, authorities said Saturday, calling for an improvement in riders’ safety awareness. According to the National Police Agency and the Korea Road Traffic Authority, a total of 51,240 bicycle accidents were reported from 2011 to 2020, [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly eight out of 10 South Koreans have no plans to visit their hometowns or travel during the upcoming Chuseok holiday amid the widespread COVID-19 fears, a poll showed Friday. In the survey of 1,001 adults nationwide conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday to Thursday, 77 percent said they [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Preference for traveling to less crowded or outdoor destinations has grown this year in South Korea amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Wednesday. The Korea Culture & Tourism Institute (KCT) compared two surveys — one conducted on 2,061 people from April to May last year and the [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of individual savings accounts (ISAs) offered by local securities firms has soared this year following a rule change that allows holders to invest in equities, data showed Wednesday. A total of 1.29 million people held ISAs at brokerage houses as of the end of July this year, [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Almost 60 percent of South Koreans want the nation to shift its COVID-19 response strategy to embrace the pandemic as part of everyday life, as the rate of fully vaccinated people is expected to reach 50 percent next month, a poll showed Monday. According to the poll of 500 [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of medical tourists to South Korea tumbled nearly 77 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Monday. Roughly 117,100 foreign patients visited South Korea last year, down a whopping 76.5 percent from some 497,500 a year earlier, according to the data [...]