The number of unemployed fresh college graduates increased by 0.2 percent in April from a year earlier despite a drop in the overall jobless rate, Statistics Korea said Wednesday. Some 63.6 percent of college graduates in their twenties were part of the workforce, posting a 0.3 percent drop from a month earlier, indicating a persistent structural mismatch between the reality of the job market an...

Samsung C&T Corp.’s executive vice president Park Pil was appointed as the head of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee’s assistant team on May 1. Operating under the chief of Samsung’s corporate strategy office, the head of the chairman’s assistance team is widely considered to be an important step on the way to key posts within Samsung Group. Although the team acts as the chairman’s assis...

S. Korea's jobless rate inches down to 3.7 pct in April South Korea's jobless rate inched down in April from a year earlier as the private sector continued to expand recruitment, fueled by strong exports, a government report showed Wednesday. The jobless rate was 3.7 percent last month, down from 3.8 percent in the same month a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea. It was a...

Central bank may be given right to inspect financial companies The nation’s financial market is focusing on the growing possibility that a proposed revision of the law on the Bank of Korea could pass the National Assembly this year. If the law on the BOK is revised, the central bank ― like the Financial Supervisory Service ― will be entitled to conduct independent inspections into financial com...

Investment focuses on renewable energy and material industries Five EU-based companies pledged to invest $510 million in Korea, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced Tuesday. The pledges ― two memoranda of understanding and three notifications of investment ― were made at an event held in Berlin attended by Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Joong-kyung. The two memoranda of understandin...

Samsung, LG, KT, SKT to feature gadgets, up-to-date communications technologies The 2011 World Information and Technology Show will take place in southern Seoul for four days beginning Wednesday, putting the focus on the new paradigm of multimedia and display. With the theme “Get IT Smart,” the show has prompted the participation of 500 firms, such as well-known local and overseas electronics m...