Less than Half of Small and Medium Enterprises Plan to Pay Chuseok Bonuses

According to a survey by the Federation of Middle Market Enterprises of Korea, only 45.1% of small and mediumsized businesses plan to give Chuseok bonuses this year, falling short of half. The survey was conducted from the 1st to the 7th among 1,000 companies, including micro businesses, small businesses, and mediumsized enterprises. Among the companies that said they would pay bonuses, 40.5% said they would give the same amount as last year, while 3.4% said they would reduce it. The average payout was 37.7% of base pay on a percentage basis, or 665,000 won on a fixedamount basis. Companies that said they would not give bonuses accounted for 38.5%, and 16.4% had not yet decided. The survey also found many responses saying that their financial situation had worsened compared with last year. Forty percent of the responding companies said that securing funds for this year's Chuseok was difficult, with the main reasons being sluggish sales and revenue, rising raw material prices, and labor cost burdens. The Federation of Middle Market Enterprises of Korea emphasized the need for support from the financial sector, saying that it is becoming harder to prepare holiday funds due to the slowdown in domestic demand and high interest rates.