South Korea's central bank is expected to maintain its key interest rate at a record low until mid-2018, according to an economist at Goldman Sachs on Saturday, after the Bank of Korea hinted that it may keep a dovish tone. Goldman Sachs economist Kwon Goo-hoon also expected the nation's inflation rate to slow down as prices of raw materials are predicted to fall off. This week, the central bank announced it will keep its policy rates at the present record-low of 1.25 percent for a 13th consecut

South Korea's corporate lobbies on Sunday expressed concerns over a decision to hike the minimum wage for next year, saying it could worsen business conditions and hamper job creation.  A panel representing the government, labor and management decided Saturday to increase the minimum hourly wage to 7,530 won ($6.64) for 2018, up 16.4 percent from this year. It is the highest on-year increase after a 16.6 percent hike in 2000. "It was a decision that ignored small and mid-sized business

The number of unemployed college graduates in South Korea hit a record in the second quarter amid tightened job markets for young adults, government data showed Saturday.The number of jobless people with a bachelor's degree and above reached 546,000 in the April-June period, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.It marked the largest quarterly figure since 1999 when the agency changed its calculation standard for compiling jobless data.Unemployed people mean those wh

South Korea is preparing for upcoming talks to amend a free trade agreement with the United States, officials said Friday.On Wednesday (US time), the US Trade Representative requested that its South Korean counterpart hold a special joint committee to discuss the amendment and modification of the Korea-US FTA, which took effect in 2012.Moreover, US President Donald Trump said on the same day that the two countries have already started renegotiating the FTA, which he called a "horrible deal.

More seniors found employment youths in the second quarter of this year, representing the shifting demographics in the country, data showed Friday.Statistics Korea said that of those who were in employment between April and June, 4.25 million were aged 60 and over, compared to 4.03 million aged 15-29.The number for over-60s is the highest on record, and takes up 15.9 percent of all employed people.Commenting that higher employment of the elderly cannot be perceived all positive, Statistics Korea

US President Donald Trump has called the free trade agreement with South Korea a "horrible deal," saying that the two have already started renegotiations on it, a transcript of his recent meeting with reporters showed Friday.Trump made the remarks off the record in a conversation on Wednesday (US time) with reporters on an airplane bound for France where he was to hold a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron, but they were later disclosed by the White House."Somebody said,

The South Korean government on Thursday reacted cautiously to the US’ formal request to hold a joint meeting to revise the Korea-US free trade agreement within the next month, saying the timeline may not be realistically possible and that searching for the real cause of the US’ trade deficit was a priority. 　The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy also said that it would call on its US counterpart to first review the root causes of the trade imbalance between the two countries. Th

An official demand by US trade representatives to amend a bilateral free trade agreement with South Korea unnerved major exporters here Thursday over the potential impact on their businesses.Cars and steel products made in Korea are expected to be up for discussion first, as US President Donald Trump views the FTA as having benefitted such local companies the most, not those in the US. The US has also been slapping anti-dumping tariffs on Korean steel products, saying their entry into the US mar

South Korea's exports of petroleum products and refined oils rose sharply in the first six months of the year on rising crude prices, customs data showed Thursday.A total of $16.69 billion worth of petroleum products were shipped overseas during the January-June period, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service. The volume of such exported goods also rose 1.7 percent to 32.93 million tons over the cited period.Asia's fourth-largest economy saw its en

South Korea's central bank on Thursday held its key rate steady for July to support the country's growth. In a widely expected move, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea voted to keep the key rate at 1.25 percent, extending its wait-and-see approach for the 13th consecutive month.In June last year, South Korea's central bank made a surprise rate cut, citing a need to stimulate the lackluster economy amid a prolonged economic slowdown. (Yonhap)

A conspicuous change in the country’s employment structure over the past decade is that the proportion taken up by the service and distribution industries has continued to grow, just as the manufacturing and construction sectors’ share has fallen.A recent study by a local economic research institute, based on data from all listed Korean firms, showed the number of service and distribution jobs rose by 153,000 from 2007 to 2016, expanding their share of total employment by 2.5 percent

The number of newly employed workers in June saw the smallest increase in five months, according to data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday. 　Last month, the number of employed people hit 26.86 million. While the figure marks a 301,000 increase compared to a year earlier, it also represents the lowest monthly increase since January’s 243,000.　The country’s unemployment rate for June was 3.8 percent, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the same month last year. 　The s

South Korea's household debt growth slowed slightly in June, data showed Wednesday, as the government moved to control fresh loans.Household debt rose by 7.8 trillion won ($6.8 billion) last month, down from 11.6 trillion won tallied for the same month last year, according to the data by the Financial Services Commission. In the first half of the year, household debt grew by 40.3 trillion won, compared with an expansion of 50.4 trillion won for the same period in 2016. The country's household de

Middle-aged South Koreans want to work longer and believe they need about half of their present salaries to enjoy a stable life after retirement, a local business lobby said Wednesday. In a survey of 1,136 Koreans aged 40 or older, the Federation of Korean Industries' Center for Large and Small Business Cooperation  said respondents said they need an average of2.79 million won ($2.43 million) per month and hope to work until the age of 69.4, which is over nine years more than the count

South Korea's effective corporate tax rate has remained at around 16 percent since 2010 due to various deductions and exemptions despite the nominal corporate tax rate marked at 22 percent, government data showed Wednesday.The effective corporate tax rate was 16.6 percent last year, up 0.5 percent from the previous year, according to the figures provided by the National Assembly Budget Office.The figures for last year reflect taxable corporate earnings in the previous year.The latest findings sh