The wage gap between workers in large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises widened in 2014 amid a deepening polarization of the labor market, a report said Monday.According to the report published by the Bank of Korea, large businesses -- those with 300 or more workers -- paid wages 1.7 times greater than those paid to employees at smaller firms in 2014, widening from a 1.1-fold gap tallied in 1980. The large firms put a 46.1 percent wage premium on their highly-educated, skilled emp

South Korea's economy is showing signs of a gradual slowdown with export growth cooling amid sluggish private consumption, a state-run think tank said Monday. "The growth pace of exports slowed and domestic demand remained weak, implying that overall economic activity appeared to be gradually slowing," the Korea Development Institute said in its monthly evaluation of the country's economic conditions.Exports in November appeared to lose some steam, mainly due to weaker global demand fo

Almost half of South Korean women aged between 15 and 54 and married with under age children earn less than 2 million won every month, according to data released by Statistics Korea.The data revealed that there are 5.063 million married and working women with children under 18 as of April this year. Among them, 49.1 percent earned a monthly wage of less than 2 million won ($1,780). This was 10.8 percentage points higher than the percentage of overall workers -- both men and women -- earning less

SEJONG - South Korea is expanding its economic partnership with South and Central American countries, which involves co-development projects on maritime affairs in the logistics and tourism segment.Earlier this year Korea signed a free trade agreement with five Central American countries -- Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama -- which made it the first Asian country to reach the deal with a Central American trade bloc. And Guatemala is set to join the bloc after the bilateral

South Korea is forecast to have the highest proportion of fifth-generation smartphone usage in the world over the next couple of years, a market tracker said Sunday. According to Strategy Analytics' Service Provider Group, the adoption rate of 5G smartphones in South Korea is expected to reach 5.5 percent in 2019 and 10.9 percent in 2020, which will be the highest level among major global nations. The estimate is based upon the fact that South Korea is to commercialize 5G services in March next

South Korea's per capita income is likely to surpass US$30,000 this year, though the economy is forecast to record its lowest growth rate in six years, observers said Sunday.Gross national income is expected to reach $31,243 in 2018, up from last year's $29,745, according to market observers, who based their calculation on income and foreign exchange data from the Bank of Korea . It will have been 12 years since the country broke the $20,000 mark in 2006. Last year, South Korea placed 31st in th

Eight in 10 South Korean employees said they feel more stressed around the year-end season, a study showed Friday. According to the survey conducted by an online job recruitment company, 83.5 percent of the respondents said they are under more pressure at the end of the year than other times.　The company surveyed a total of 947 adult workers between 20 and 69 years old. A quarter of the respondents who feel stressed at the end of the year said they feel insecure about a lack of achievements, whi

South Korea's exports are expected to exceed $600 billion for the first time this year on upbeat sales of memory chips, machinery and petrochemical products, the trade ministry said Friday. Outbound shipments were expected to reach the benchmark on Dec. 27, which would make the nation the world's sixth-largest exporter, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.  Total trade volume is set to reach over $1.1 trillion by the end of this year, the ministry said. The nation's trade volume

Major foreign investment banks revised down their forecasts for South Korea’s economic growth for this year and 2019, citing unfavorable conditions both at home and abroad, a report showed Thursday.According to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance, the forecast by nine major global IBs as of end-November averaged 2.7 percent for this year and 2.6 percent for next year, down 0.1 percentage point each from the figures presented a month earlier.Nomura, for example, downgra

The unemployment rate for South Koreans in their late 20s has escalated rapidly since 2010, and 2017 saw the highest increase since 2000, according to data released by the Bank of Korea.　The proportion of jobless Koreans between the ages of 25 and 29 hit 9.5 percent as of 2017, as compared with only 6.9 percent in 2010. That number has risen consistently since 2000, two years after the financial crisis hit the nation. Japan, where the economy is recovering and the working-age population is on th

Seoul stays in the black in goods exports, sees improvement in travel deficit

SEJONG -- Apartment prices in Seoul, which have continued to shoot up at since the latter half of 2016, are estimated to have hit an all-time high during the first half of 2018, causing a fears of a price bubble.Though the government unveiled a series of measures to curb the “abnormal” housing prices, ordinary households and many property experts agree that these efforts came too late and had no effect. A normalization in Seoul’s housing market will almost certainly take a long

Conglomerates with assets worth over 10 trillion won ($8.9 billion) accounted for 61 percent of combined operating profit of all South Korean businesses last year, government data showed Thursday.The data underscored that Asia's fourth-largest economy is still dominated by conglomerates, known here as chaebol.In 2017, the country had 2,191 big companies control such large assets. They accounted for a mere 0.3 percent of the country's 666,163 companies, according to the data compiled by Statistic

Rising housing prices have rarely encouraged home owners in South Korea to expand their spending due mainly to worries over how they will cope with old age, a report said Thursday.According to the report by the Bank of Korea, a 1 percentage point rise in housing prices leads to a 0.02 percentage point gain in consumption growth by people who own property. The statistics were based on data between 2013-2016 when South Korea experienced a real estate market boom. By age group, the consumption elas

Former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan is among thousands of people who failed to pay more than 200 million won ($179,000) in dues, tax authorities said Wednesday.The National Tax Service made public the names of 5,021 people and 2,136 companies, and the amount of money they have not paid, on its website in an attempt to pressure them into paying their dues. The agency said those on the list owed the government a combined 5.24 trillion won in taxes.Among them, 4,300 people -- or 60.1 percen