Six out of Ten Companies Say "Chuseok Business Outlook Worse Than Last Year"

Fewer Companies Responded "Planning to Pay Bonuses" Compared to Last Year

Six out of ten companies responded that the business outlook for this year’s Chuseok holiday has "worsened compared to last year." Among companies that will close for Chuseok, more than half will implement a seven-day holiday, and the proportion of companies planning to pay Chuseok bonuses has decreased compared to last year.

Yonhap News Agency

According to a survey conducted by the Korea Employers Federation on 625 companies nationwide with five or more employees regarding the "2025 Chuseok Holiday Status," 56.9% answered that the situation has "worsened compared to last year," which was the highest response. Meanwhile, 35.6% said it is "about the same as last year," and only 7.4% said it has "improved compared to last year."

Additionally, 56.9% of companies that will close for Chuseok indicated they would have a seven-day holiday. This year, the Chuseok holiday spans a total of seven days, including National Foundation Day, Saturday, the Chuseok public holiday, a substitute holiday, and Hangul Day. Companies that responded they would close for "ten days or more" accounted for 20.1%, while those closing for "five days" made up 8.8%.

Notably, companies granting "eight days or more" off reached 25.0%. The most cited reason was "to reduce costs such as annual leave allowances" at 35.2%.

The proportion of companies planning to pay Chuseok bonuses was 60.4%, down from 64.8% last year. Companies with 300 or more employees (68.1%) were more likely to pay bonuses than those with fewer than 300 employees (59.4%).

Among companies that pay bonuses, 64.0% said they would provide them "only as regular bonuses," 32.2% would pay "only as separate Chuseok bonuses," and 3.8% would pay "both regular and separate Chuseok bonuses."

When asked about the "level of separate Chuseok bonuses," 89.3% of companies said it would be "about the same as last year," 7.6% said "more than last year," and 3.1% said "less than last year."

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