SEOUL, April 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Employees at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more vulnerable to depression and stress caused by the coronavirus pandemic, also dubbed the “corona blues,” than their counterparts at large companies, a state agency said Thursday. The Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service affiliated with the labor ministry came to [...]
SEOUL, March 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Small business owners in the capital area expressed frustration Friday after the government extended coronavirus restrictions for another two weeks, saying they could hardly remember a time when business was worse. In cities ranging from Incheon and Osan to Uijeongbu, all located in the greater Seoul area, restaurants, coffee [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will offer relief grants of up to 3 million won (US$2,700) for small business owners hit by the new coronavirus outbreak, ruling party and government officials said Sunday. The decision on the country’s third round of emergency relief package was reached during a high-level policy discussion between [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Small business owners in South Korea reported an average operating profit of 34 million won (US$29,264) last year, a survey showed Friday. According to the survey of 2,470 small business owners, conducted by Statistics Korea, they also posted average sales of 235 million won last year. The survey did [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Small business owners spend an average of 840,000 won (US$716) a month on online delivery service applications. Of the money spent, half of it is spent on advertising via the application. Business owners want half of what they are spending on the application, 200,000 won, for advertisements. This data [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it will donate 50 billion won (US$44.7 million) to an industrial foundation to help small firms set up smart-factory infrastructure in their production centers. The South Korean tech giant said through a regulatory filing that its board has decided to provide 10 billion won [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The government has decided to acquire 480 billion won of debt incurred over 10 years ago by small business owners, of which most will be written off. Meanwhile, an additional 1 trillion won will be pumped into the “Make it Happen” loan program for small business owners, which was [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – A majority of small business owners in South Korea are considering reducing staff after being having difficulty coping with the government’s recent minimum wage hikes, the latest of which is set to come into effect next year. According to a survey of 300 small business owners and vendors [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — A business lobby representing small-sized businesses on Friday filed a complaint against the government’s decision on next year’s minimum wage hike. Earlier this month, a tripartite commission of the government, labor and management reached an agreement to increase the minimum hourly wage to 7,530 won (US$6.68) in 2018, up [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – Less than one-third of small enterprises survive past five years, the toll heaviest on finance and insurance businesses, a report showed Wednesday. According to the Small and Medium Business Administration which submitted the report to the parliamentary trade committee, only 29 percent of small-scale enterprises that opened in 2008 [...]