Many small and medium-sized enterprises in the country worry their business will be stifled by populist labor pledges presidential candidates have competitively put forward ahead of the May 9 election.Both of the two leading candidates -- Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party -- have promised to drastically reduce working hours and raise minimum wages if elected to the five-year presidency. They unveiled plans last week to shorten working hour

The average annual income of South Korea's farming and fishing households gained slightly in 2016 from a year earlier, a government report showed Monday.The income of farming households reached an average of 37.2 million won ($32,940) last year, nearly unchanged from the previous year, according to the report by Statistics Korea. The average income of households engaged in fishing or fish farming climbed 7.2 percent on-year to 47.1 million won.On average, each farming household spent 31.05 milli

South Korea's finance minister pledged on Saturday (local time) to step up policy efforts to help Asia's fourth-largest economy gather upward momentum in the midst of a global recovery.In a meeting with Moody's officials, Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the South Korean government will focus its fiscal policies on boosting consumption and investment and make constant efforts to deal with external and internal risks such as household debts, rising trade protectionism and geopolitical issues. He a

A local think tank said Sunday the world economy is in a clear upside mode led by recovering advanced economies, giving an opportunity to export-dependent South Korea.The Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) in Seoul revised up its 2017 growth forecast for the world economy to 3.5 percent from 3.4 percent. The HRI said in a report the United States has entered the "Goldilocks economy" of sustained growth and low inflation as the world's largest economy pulls off moderate growth on the back

The number of unemployed people with a bachelor's degree in South Korea surpassed 500,000 in the first quarter for the first time amid the tightened job market for young adults, government data showed Sunday.Jobless people reached 1.17 million in the January-March period, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of unemployed college graduates rose 9.2 percent on-year to 543,000 over the three-month period. It is first time that their quar

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Friday reiterated the government's commitment to fostering growth engines and new industries to stay ahead in intensifying global competition. Hwang made the remarks during a ceremony to mark the Day of Science on Friday, and the Day of Information and Communications on Saturday, respectively. "(Our country) will strive to create new industries and services by securing future growth engines such as smart cars and the Internet of Things,&q

South Korea is set to impose anti-dumping duties on ferroalloy imported from Vietnam, India and Ukraine, the trade commission here said Friday.After a preliminary examination, the Korea Trade Commission said it will recommend the finance ministry levy punitive duties of 6.08-32.32 percent on ferro-silico-manganese imported from the three countries, for underselling South Korean products and causing damage to the local industry. The finance ministry is to determine whether to actually impose anti

South Korea's exports jumped 28.4 percent in the first 20 days of April from a year earlier on robust overseas demand for semiconductors and cars, customs data showed Friday.Total outbound shipments reached $30.4 billion during the cited period, up from $23.7 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. The increase was led by a 52.6-percent on-year gain in exports of semiconductors and a 25.8-percent surge in passenger cars.Exports

More people moved out of Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area than those who moved in for the first time since the relevant tally was gathered in 1971, Statistics Korea said Thursday.The number of people who were residing in the area that they were born in tended to decline until they were in their 50s, and started increasing as they turned 60, the data also showed.The agency said that the rise in the number of people moving out of the capital region is due to relocations of people to Sej

South Korea's household debt growth, already the highest among emerging markets, increased at a slower pace in the first quarter of this year, thanks to government measures to curb lending, the nation's top financial regulator said Thursday. Household debt, which stood at 1,344 trillion won ($1.17 trillion) at the end of last year, has been cited as one of the key vulnerabilities facing Asia's fourth-largest economy as a mountain of debts threatens to choke off consumer spending.  "Loo

South Korea's exports of cosmetics continued their upside mode in the first three months of the year on strong global demand, the latest customs data showed Thursday.Outbound shipments of South Korea-made beauty products were valued at $935 million in the January-March period, up 32.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service.Exports to China rose 26.7 percent on-year to $337 million over the three-month period, despite Beijing's recent movement to

The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for South Korea’s economic growth this year to 2.7 percent, driven by signs of a turnaround in the global economy.The latest forecast is up 0.1 percentage point from the 2.6 percent growth the agency estimated in its G-20 Surveillance Note in March.It is also higher than the Korean government and the central bank’s 2.6 percent projection.For 2018, it maintained its earlier prediction of 2.8 percent.The organization also projected ro

South Korea's finance minister will attend international meetings of the world's top economic policymakers later this week to discuss ways to improve international policy coordination, his office in Sejong said Wednesday.Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, who doubles as the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, will attend the Group of 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting to be held in Washington on Thursday and Friday, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The G-2

Debate is heating up here on the wisdom of increasing fiscal spending to help boost Korea’s sluggish economy that is expected to grow below 3 percent for three consecutive years in 2017.The issue came to the fore again last week when presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in said in a press conference on his economic policies that he would sharply expand government outlay if he won the May 9 election.Specifically, he pledged to raise the annual increase rate of government expenditure to 7 perc

South Korea's economic fundamentals are sound and it is capable of "fully" responding to potential crises at home and abroad, the nation's top financial regulator said Wednesday. Zhin Woong-seob, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said, however, global uncertainties, including US interest rate hikes and a wave of protectionism, make it "increasingly difficult to predict the future we're headed towards.""Looking outward, we can also see the global environment