The number of stock analysts in South Korea decreased by nearly 20 percent over the last three years as the bearish stock market has worsened earnings of many brokerages, leading them to let their analysts go.

Local brokerages had 1,276 analysts as of last month, down 19.2 percent from an all-time high of 1,580 in February 2011, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association.

The report showed that the findings provide the starkest evidence yet of the market’s sluggish performance in recent years.

The KFIA said in its report that local trading firms have been cutting high-paid analysts and their paychecks as part of their restructuring scheme.

Woori Investment & Securities had the largest number of analysts at 86 as of last month, followed by Daewoo Securities’ 81 and Shinhan Investment’s 73 analysts.

Samsung Securities, meanwhile, had 70 analysts last month, down from 103 in 2011.

(monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)