S. Korean workers' productivity drops in last 5 years: FKI survey

SEOUL, June 26 (Yonhap) -- The productivity of South Korean company workers has declined over the past five years, a local business lobby group said Sunday, citing the results of its own survey

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said it analyzed the sales, operating profits and labor costs of the nation's 30 largest listed conglomerates between 2011 and 2015.

It showed the revenue per employee fell from 1.08 billion won (US$910,000) in 2011 to 968 million won in 2015. It represents a 2.7 percent drop on average annually.

Operating profits per worker also plunged from 71.3 million won to 53.1 million won during the period, a 7.1 percent decrease on a yearly basis.

On the other hand, labor costs jumped from 74.5 million won to 87.8 million won, led by the construction, science-technology and manufacturing industries, according to the FKI.

The combined sales of the 30 conglomerates, rose from 821.2 trillion won in 2011 to 835.5 trillion won in 2015.

But their operating profits shrank from 54.2 trillion won to 45.8 trillion won, while labor costs of these big businesses rose from 56.6 trillion won to 75.7 trillion won.

"The rise of the conglomerates' labor costs undermines the original cost competitiveness of products, leading to declines in their global market share," said Song Won-geun, head of the FKI's economic research division. "A resilient pay system linked to productivity is necessary to enhance their global competitiveness."
(END)