[THE INVESTOR] Payrolls were slashed to the tune of 4,700 employees in the first half of the year at listed affiliates of South Korea’s top 10 conglomerates, as two-thirds of jobs lost were reported in the shipbuilding sector, which has been hit hard by the prolonged slump, data showed Aug. 17.

A total of 641,390 were employed by listed companies affiliated with the top 10 business groups at the end of June, inching down 0.7 percent from the end of 2015, according to the data compiled by corporate tracker Chaebul.com.

The shipbuilding sector lost the highest number of employees, at 3,229, as major companies were grappling with huge operating losses in the wake of the worldwide industry slump.

The nation‘s big three -- Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries -- had a combined 51,353 workers as of June, down 5.9 percent from six months earlier, their financial statements showed.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)