SEJONG -- Housing prices in Seoul have continued to renew their all-time highs this year, in addition to a surge over the past few years since the mid-2010s. Many apartment complexes in the capital have recorded a 100-150 percent increase in price between 2016 and 2020. According to KB Kookmin Bank and Naver.com, the average trading price of homes in Seoul reached 39.33 million won ($33,100) per 3.3 square meters as of Oct. 15. This posted a 7.3 percent increase in just five months from&n

SEJONG -- Seoul has the smallest number of people per household, on average, among the eight major cities across the nation. The average population per household in Seoul fell to an all-time low of 2.16 -- 9.52 million people in 4.42 million households -- as of September, according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety. The average household size of the capital posted a noteworthy slide in the last five years, falling from 2.38 in September 2016 and 2.44 in September 2011. Further, the pace

SEJONG -- South Korea’s gasoline prices climbed to the highest in almost seven years, in line with a spike in international crude prices over the past month amid steeply rising demand for petroleum worldwide. The situation, which could worsen further, is expected to pose a tough burden to some manufacturers and households, as long as oil producers choose not to increase output. According the Korea National Oil Corp., gasoline prices reached 1,695.98 won ($1.42) per liter on Thursday. Th

SEJONG - South Korean hiring is showing signs of recovery, though it is hard to say that the uncertainty has been lifted amid the ongoing pandemic situation. A small rebound in the employment index could be seen in recent figures for the portion of “unemployed plus underemployed” of the economically active population. According to the Supplementary Index III for Employment, compiled by Statistics Korea, the portion of unemployed or underemployed -- known as the “de facto&rdqu

SEJONG -- The 40-and-older population in South Korea has surged by nearly 10 percentage points in a decade in terms of their percentage of the entire population, government data showed. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the number of those aged 40 or above posted 29.67 million as of September. This took up 57.4 percent of the total population of 51.66 million. This was a 9.6 percentage point increase from the 47.8 percent in September 2011 for the age groups -- from those in th

SEJONG -- South Korea is likely to become the country whose portion of the youth population is the lowest among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the coming months. There is also a possibility that Korea will rank the world’s bottom in the portion of youth population, unofficially. According to the Paris-based organization, Korea recorded 12.2 percent in the percentage of youth population -- or those aged between 0-14 -- of the entire population 

SEJONG -- South Korea lagged behind major countries in economic growth during the second quarter of the year, placing 32nd among 36 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Korea also ranked 37th of 46 economies, when the OECD included 10 nonmembers -- such as China and Russia -- in its analysis. According to the Paris-based organization, Korea posted a 0.8 percent growth in gross domestic product in the second quarter, compared to the previous quarter. The analys

SEJONG -- South Korea was one of seven countries whose employment rate for women stayed under 60 percent as of June, among 33 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. As for the employment rate for men, Korea also fell far behind its Asia-Pacific neighbors -- such as Japan, which topped the list, and New Zealand -- as well as some emerging economies. According to the OECD, the women’s employment rate in Korea posted 57.5 percent in the second quarter of this

SEJONG -- The number of foreigners in South Korea climbed last month, in the first monthly increase since COVID-19 hit the nation in early 2020, immigration data showed. According to the Korea Immigration Service, the tally for foreign nationals -- both long-term and short-term visitors -- reached 1.976 million as of August, up 2,858 from a month earlier. This is the first time in 20 months that the tally has grown on-month. After peaking at 2.52 million in December 2019, the figure has decli

SEJONG -- South Korea posted No. 3 in the growth of tax burden for workers last year among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the French-based organization, Korea saw the tax wedge -- a barometer for taxation levels by measuring the difference between before-tax and after-tax salaries -- post 23.256 percent in 2020, up 0.307 percentage point from 22.949 percent a year earlier. The OECD defines tax wedge as the ratio between the amount of taxes pa

SEJONG -- Refugees from North Korea have seen their assets -- both real estate and cashable -- shrink in 2020, compared to 2017 when the nation started compiling the relevant data. In particular, 7 in 10 households that include at least one refugee from North Korea, posted under 50 million won ($42,800) in real estate assets, data from state agencies showed. According to the Korea Hana Foundation and Statistics Korea, property assets -- such as houses and land -- held by the North Korean defec

SEJONG -- The number of family members per household reached a record low of 2.21 in South Korea in August, amid the rapidly growing tally for single-person households and all-time low birthrates among couples in their 20s and 30s. This contrasted with an average of 2.44 people per family in August 2016 and 2.54 in August 2011, data from the Ministry of Interior of Safety showed. The demographic change is particularly apparent in the data for four-member households, which was the nation&rsquo

SEJONG -- The market volume of online shopping in South Korea, which has been sharply growing in recent years, has been further boosted by the pandemic, as more consumers rely on internet retailers, data shows. Shopping via the internet is estimated to have contributed largely to private consumption, and eventually the gross domestic product. According to Statistics Korea, monthly online shopping transactions reached an all-time high of 16.19 trillion won ($13.8 billion) in July. This marked 2

SEJONG -- The job market of South Korea has shown few signs of improvement this year after it was severely hit by the pandemic throughout last year, data from a state agency showed. According to Statistics Korea, the number of people who abandoned looking for jobs stood at 633,000 in July, the latest month for which data is available, up 9.1 percent -- or 53,000 people -- from 580,000 posted a year earlier. These are dubbed “discouraged workers,” referring to those who did not car

SEJONG -- The average age of South Koreans reached 43.5 as of August, climbing by five years compared to a decade earlier in August 2011 when it stayed at 38.5, government data showed. This is attributed to a surge in the portion of seniors, aged 65 or over, and a sharp drop in the percentage of children and babies, aged under 15. After topping 40.0 in October 2014 for the first time since the nation started compiling the relevant figures, Koreans’ average age has continued to rise, acc

SEJONG -- Seoul has the highest unemployment rate among the nation’s eight major cities and nine provinces, a government agency’s latest data showed. According to Statistics Korea, the jobless rate for residents in Seoul reached 5.2 percent during the second quarter of this year, which far outstripped the nationwide average of 3.9 percent. Compared to 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 (a quarter before COVID-19 initially hit South Korea), the nationwide unemployment rate cl

SEJONG -- South Koreans in their 70s are expected to outnumber those aged under 10 for the first time within the next year amid an aged society and record-low birthrates, government data showed. A decade ago in August 2011, the number of people aged between 70-79 was 2.72 million, which came to 57.9 percent of those aged up to 9, at 4.69 million, according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety. In August 2021, the ratio of those in their 70s to that of those under 10 surged to 96.7 perc

SEJONG -- The tally for foreigners staying in South Korea has continued to drop for more than a year after peaking at 2.52 million in December 2019 in the aftermath of the pandemic. The number of foreign nationals -- both long-term and short-term visitors -- posted 1.974 million as of July, down more than 6,000 from 1.981 million a month earlier, according to the Korea Immigration Service. This marked the lowest in 62 months since the figure stayed at 1.949 million in May 2016. On a yearly b

SEJONG -- The volume of government payouts for people who lost jobs has climbed sharply since COVID-19 pandemic hit the nation in January 2020, with recent monthly tallies outstripping the figures before the pandemic. All eight major cities and nine provinces in South Korea saw increases in the unemployment benefit payouts. However, there were disparities in the size of the increase. According to the Korea Employment Information Service, the number of recipients of unemployment benefits came

SEJONG -- South Korea’s national debt is estimated to have surpassed 900 trillion won ($770 billion) this year for the first time, though the government has yet to publicize the updated official figure. According to calculations by the National Assembly Budget Office, the national debt – debt directly held by the central and local governments -- was estimated at 938.9 trillion won as of Thursday. The latest official figure, unveiled by the government, was 898.1 trillion won as of J