Half of listed companies cut jobs in H1 amid pandemic-driven economic downturn

Nearly half, or 47.3% of 1,816 corporations listed on Korea’s main and secondary bourses cut back on payrolls in H1 this year from a year-ago period, data from the Korea Economic Research Institute showed. Of the 688 firms on the main Kospi, 48.4% shed jobs and 46.4% of the 1,128 companies on the Kosdaq reduced workforce due to economic uncertainties and rising minimum wage. Worse yet, 240 firms, or 13.2%, suffered declines in sales and operating profit in H1. With the Delta variant still raging, the local job market outlook in H2 looks grim.

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