67% of Daegu Manufacturers Feel Worse Business Conditions Than Last Chuseok... 49% to Pay Bonuses at Last Year's Level

Survey of 150 Companies by Daegu Chamber of Commerce

Recently, while the export-driven economy has been recovering thanks to favorable conditions in industries such as semiconductors, defense, and shipbuilding, the business sentiment felt by local manufacturing companies ahead of this year's Chuseok has worsened compared to last year.

The Daegu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chairperson Park Yunkyung) conducted a survey titled "2024 Chuseok Economic Trends" on 150 local manufacturing companies to assess industry trends such as business sentiment, bonus payments, and holiday plans ahead of the Chuseok holiday. According to the survey, 67.3% of respondent companies answered that "business sentiment has deteriorated compared to last Chuseok."

Daegu Chamber of Commerce and Industry

By industry, all respondents in the primary metals sector answered that conditions had worsened, while the proportion of "worsened" responses was also high in textiles (78.3%) and machinery/equipment (76.9%). In contrast, 51.4% of auto parts companies responded that conditions were similar to or slightly better than the previous year.

Regarding plans to pay "Chuseok bonuses," 49.3% of respondent companies said they plan to pay at the same level as last year. Meanwhile, 4.7% said they would pay less, and 8.5% said they would not pay bonuses due to management difficulties.

As for the number of Chuseok holidays this year, three out of four respondent companies (74.0%) said they would have five days off, including the weekend. Companies granting seven or nine days off through "paid leave" or "encouraging the use of collective annual paid leave" accounted for only 2.7% each, indicating a minimal proportion.

Meanwhile, regarding the economic outlook after Chuseok, the most common response was "it will be at last year's level" at 57.3%. While 35.3% answered "it will get worse," only 7.4% responded "it will get better," indicating that most companies do not expect an easy economic recovery going forward.

Lee Sangkil, Executive Vice President of the Daegu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "Due to continued high interest rates and inflation, domestic demand remains sluggish and the economic downturn has significantly worsened business sentiment among local companies." He added, "I hope the government will pay special attention so that the recently announced Chuseok holiday special funds can be smoothly provided to local companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.