SEJONG -- The nation’s economy has faced downside risks in the wake of global industrial output and trade scaling back amid the ongoing pandemic, a state-funded research agency said Tuesday, casting concerns over a recent surge in manufacturers’ inventories. According to a report from the Korea Development Institute, the South Korean economy has been facing uncertainty with negative factors such as the spread of COVID-19 variants worldwide emerging despite a modest recovery earlier

SEJONG -- Homeowners will enjoy an increased capital gains exemption when they sell their homes after a law was passed. The National Assembly has passed the bill on raising the upper level for the tax exemption from the current 900 million won to 1.2 billion won. The revised law -- which is not applicable to multiple homeowners but to those owning only one home -- will take effect in the coming weeks. Under the current 900 million-won standard, a homeowner who purchased a property at 700 mill

SEJONG -- The growth in consumer prices posted the highest in almost a decade last month with prices of daily necessities such as diesel and agricultural products surging, sparking concerns over its impact on households. Statistics Korea said Thursday that consumer prices climbed 3.7 percent on-year in November, which marked the highest increase since the 4.2 percent growth in December 2011. Consumer prices increased over 3 percent for the second consecutive month, following a 3.2 percent gro

SEJONG -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has maintained its outlook on the South Korean economy this year, while revising down its growth predictions for major countries. In a report released Wednesday, the Paris-based organization maintained its earlier forecast in September of a 4 percent growth in gross domestic product for Korea this year. “The Korean economy continues to recover following the COVID-19 shock, propelled by strong export growth, improving bu

SEJONG -- South Korea’s monthly exports surpassed $60 billion last month for the first time on the back of the brisk outbound shipments of semiconductors and petrochemicals. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, exports posted an all-time high of $60.4 billion in November, up 32.1 percent from a year earlier. “After initially surpassing $50 billion in October 2013, the monthly export volume topped the $60 billion mark in 97 months,” said the ministry. &ldqu

SEJONG -- South Korea’s industrial output and facilities investment declined on-month, though the two sectors also recorded positive growth on-year, reflecting economic uncertainty under constant pressure of the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The industrial output decreased by 1.9 percent in October from a month earlier, which marked the highest negative growth since it posted minus 2 percent in April 2020. Production in the manufacturing segment, including automobiles and metals, decrea

SEJONG -- Banpo-dong, Seoul, is likely to see the average trading price of homes exceed 100 million won ($83,800) per “pyeong” in the coming months. Apgujeong-dong, Seoul is poised to follow suit. In the nation, a pyeong is a basic unit used for real estate prices, equal to 3.3 square meters. These two districts in the capital’s Gangnam-gu, located just south of Han River, are the priciest in South Korea. According to Naver.com and KB Kookmin Bank, Banpo-dong’s home pr

SEJONG -- The number of paid jobs for South Koreans in their 30s has declined for a seventh consecutive quarter. This could indicate a lack of job security for the core working age bracket, despite recent improvement in hiring indexes for other age groups. Statistics Korea said Thursday that the tally for salaried jobs increased by 681,000 on-year for all age groups in the second quarter. By age, the figure decreased only among those aged between 30-39. Those in their 60s and older topped the

SEJONG -- The tally of those subject to the comprehensive real estate holding tax -- individuals or corporations -- exceeded 1 million this year for the first time since the nation introduced the tax in June 2005. According to the National Tax Service, almost 1.03 million individuals and corporations are supposed to pay comprehensive real estate taxes in 2021. The figure consists of 947,000 homeowners and 79,600 landowners. This shows that the number of comprehensive real estate holding tax ta

SEJONG -- The Finance Ministry has unveiled its plan to support microbusiness owners, including the self-employed, in use of tax revenue surplus and the national budget. This is regarded as a sort of bailout for small businesses, which were severely hit by the pandemic in terms of sales and financial conditions. While they will have the opportunity of taking out state-led loans on low rates, the government’s support package does not include cash grants. “The support scale would rea

SEJONG -- The government’s move to levy comprehensive real estate taxes on a certain portion of homeowners is likely to face severe backlash, amid the growing tax burden of households in proportion to high growth in apartment prices. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, those subject to the comprehensive real estate tax are people owning two homes or more -- whose collective property value, assessed by the Land Ministry, surpasses 600 million won ($506,000). Homeowners will

SEJONG -- Nonregular workers’ pay has risen quite slowly compared to regular workers over the past four years, government data shows. According to Statistics Korea, the average monthly pay for regular employees reached 3.33 million won ($2,790) this year. This marked a 17 percent increase -- or by 485,000 won -- from 2.85 million won in 2017. But the increase in average pay for nonregular employees was 12.7 percent -- or 200,000 won -- over the corresponding period, from 1.56 million wo

SEJONG – Major cities outside the capital have led the increase in the proportion of nonregular jobs in South Korea over the last four years. According to Statistics Korea, 38.4 percent of workers had nonregular status in 2021, an all-time high and up 5.5 percentage points from 32.9 percent in 2017, when President Moon Jae-in took office. Nonregular workers include temporary workers, part-timers and others in underemployed status.   While the situation is causing weakening job secu

SEJONG -- South Korea looks set to keep its undesirable No. 1 position in the pay gap between male and female employees in 2020 among the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the organization, Korea posted 31.5 percent in the gender wage gap last year. This means that women earned 31.5 percent less than men on average, a gap that is likely to surpass those of other members, based on previous years’ data. According to the OECD’s def

SEJONG -- The number of men and boys in South Korea has continued to decline since August 2019 on a monthly basis, which has led the gender ratio -- the number of men per 100 women – to fall to an all-time low, government data showed. It has been found that Seoul and Busan -- the nation’s top two populous cities -- have taken the initiative in widening the gender disparity in demographic figures. According to the data held by the Ministry Interior and Safety, the male population p