SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean office workers are gradually returning to the office after more than two years of on-again, off-again remote working, as businesses are rolling back pandemic restrictions in tandem with those of the government. Steel giant POSCO on Monday ended its remote working policy in its Seoul office, believing [...]
SEOUL, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Those in low-income groups are bearing a relatively higher inflation burden than those with higher incomes in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, a local research institute said. The Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) analyzed the change in prices felt by consumers for the periods of 2018-2019 and 2020-2021. [...]
SEOUL, March 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The obesity rate among children and teenagers has increased following the spread of COVID-19, which has forced many to remain indoors. A research team from Nowon Eulji Medical Center compared the body mass index (BMI) data of children who visited the hospital before and during the pandemic. Of 113 [...]
SEOUL, March 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The spread of COVID-19 has led to further social isolation with leisure activities including traveling, sports and others halving since the pre-pandemic era. Statistics Korea reported Tuesday that the level of the country’s social isolation last year reached 34.1 percent, the highest since 2009. The level of interpersonal trust [...]
SEOUL, March 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The COVID-19 pandemic is devastating the family economy, resulting in a higher number of family disputes, data released by a provider of free legal consultation services showed Wednesday. The Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations reportedly oversaw 4,616 consultations for divorce, 75.3 percent (3,475 cases) of which were [...]
SEOUL, March 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly seven in 10 South Koreans saw their income fall in the wake of COVID-19, a survey showed Thursday. In the online survey of 2,016 people aged 18 or above by the Korea Institute of Public Administration from Nov. 15-22, 68 percent said their average monthly income was lower [...]
SEOUL, March 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans’ use of internet banking services soared 18 percent on-year in 2021 as customers preferred non-contact services amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Monday. The daily use of online banking services, including mobile banking, reached 17.32 million cases last year, up from 14.68 million a year [...]
SEJONG, March 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The average income of singers and actors declined but that of athletes increased in 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The combined income of the nation’s 8,068 singers who reported business income in 2020 totaled 261.7 billion won (US$217 million), with an average per-capita [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — On her way home from work, Lim Kyung-nan, a mother of two living in Anyang, occasionally borrows books from a smart library, an unmanned book-rental machine, usually installed at subway stations. “I usually can’t go to community libraries since I leave my work in the late evening,” Lim said. [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The cleanliness and sanitation of restaurants are influencing consumer choice as much as taste after the pandemic outbreak, a survey showed Sunday. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Trade Corp. (aT) of 1,341 consumers between 20 and 69 years of age who ate out more [...]