Macroeconomics and resilience score additional points, peninsular volatility and low productivity countervail.

The underprivileged will be eligible for state a housing subsidy starting in October even if they have immediate family members who have enough income or assets to be able to support them, the welfare ministry said Friday.The Ministry of Health and Welfare will carry out of a phased softening of standing regulations that disqualify people from various government subsidies because they have parents or children who are financially capable of helping them. Such rules will be lifted for housing fund

The prosecutors’ latest search and seizure of the Fair Trade Commission was purportedly to look into its suspected backscratching ties with top-tier business groups and to check on potential power abuse by the antitrust watchdog. But the abrupt action was also viewed as a chronic power struggle between the prosecution and the FTC -- often dubbed “prosecutors in the economic realm” -- over the latter’s expansive range of rights concerning fair trade rule violations.On the

The escalating trade dispute between the United States and China is expected to affect South Korea's exports to the world's two largest economies, but only to a limited extent, a study showed Thursday. The US has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on up to $50 billion of 1,102 Chinese goods in response to alleged intellectual property theft, with the initial tariffs worth $34 billion set to go into effect on July 6. China said it will impose 25 percent tariffs on 659 US goods worth $50 bil

Major South Korean companies have encouraged their employees to take their annual leave, a survey showed Thursday, as the country pushes its people to better strive for work-life balance.The survey of 155 major South Korean firms released by the Korea Economic Research Institute, a private think tank, found that 52.3 percent of the companies polled said annual leave was the best implemented of 10 proposals drawn up by the government in 2016 to help people strike a balance between work and life,

Concerns persist on conglomerate monopolization, low productivity, employment inequality

Concerns are growing over the possible hollowing-out of Korea’s key manufacturing industries as local companies rush to move factories to countries with better conditions to detour anti-business policies at home and global trade friction.According to industrial sources, 97.1 percent of TV sets made by Korean electronics firms in 2017 were manufactured at overseas plants. The corresponding figures reached 93.2 percent for mobile phones, 86.9 percent for washing machines and 80.3 percent for

South Korean small businesses on Wednesday proposed operating an inter-Korean technology training center and inviting global companies to a joint industrial complex with North Korea to expedite cross-border economic cooperation.The Korea Federation of SMEs recommended nine South-North businesses, explained in detail in its report to the government in April, which emphasizes technological education as the first priority in pursuing cooperation with the North.  While North Korean workers have

Public institutions are hiring more people, but not those without college degrees, government statistics showed Wednesday.According to state portal All Public Information in One, 361 state-run institutions employed 22,560 people in permanent positions last year. The proportion of hires for whom high school was their highest educational attainment was 1,858, or 8.2 percent.The latest figure marks a 30.6 percent increase in overall hiring from 2013 but a drop of 7.9 percent for employment of peopl

The government will push to overhaul the evaluation process for state-invested firms so as to help improve their trustworthiness, which has been tarnished by job-related irregularities, and boost job creation, the country's chief economic policymaker said Tuesday."State firms are urged to raise their productivity and effectiveness as well and play a key role in creating and spearheading a system for innovative growth," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a meeting to review state fi

‘US rate hike will not lead to drastic capital outflow here’

Calls are growing for President Moon Jae-in’s administration to readjust its income-led growth policy, which experts say has been only worsening unemployment and low-income households’ livelihoods.According to the latest data from Statistics Korea, the country’s jobless rate stood at 4 percent last month, up from 3.6 percent in May last year, when Moon took office. The figure for young people aged 15-29 rose from 9.2 percent to 10.5 percent over the cited period.The overall and

SEJONG -- The government said Monday that it will continue its efforts to realign budget spending in a way to tackle the country's chronic low birth rate, boost job creation and facilitate innovative growth."The government will focus on the three key policies by improving the country's overall budget spending scheme," Deputy Finance Minister Kim Yong-jin said in a policy meeting.Kim said government agencies are urged to actively respond to changes in policy implementation and to do mor

While South Korea’s employment indexes continued to struggle amid controversies on increased minimum wage, the job decreasing rate turned out to be the most drastic for the primary labor force age clusters in their 30s and 40s, data showed Sunday. The number of newly employed people in their 40s stood at 669.7 million in May, down 88,000 from the same period last year and marking a decline for 31 consecutive months, according to data released by Statistics Korea.This was the longest period

South Korea's jobless rate rose slightly in May due to a fall in employment in the retail, manufacturing and educational service sectors, while job creation remained sluggish, government data showed Friday.The unemployment rate stood at 4 percent last month, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier, marking the highest rate recorded for May in 18 years, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of employed people reached 27.06 million in May, up 72,000 from a year earlie