A survey finds that one in three companies in South Korea may reduce workers in the future if the COVID-19 pandemic continues for more than six months.
 
In a recent poll conducted by the Korea Economic Research Institute, 33 percent of the surveyed 120 companies said that they will not be able to maintain the current level of employment if the COVID-19 pandemic does not mitigate over the next six months.
 
According to the poll results, 22-point-five percent of the firms said that they are securing financial funds or liquidity or seeking those measures to minimize the economic fallout of the pandemic.
 
Another 20 percent said they were seeking to implement furloughs, while 17-point-five percent of the respondents were moving to cut benefits and bonuses. Eight-point-eight percent of the firms said they were considering layoffs.
 
The survey was conducted by Research & Research from April 13 to 24 on 120 out of 500 leading companies in terms of sales and hiring of more than 300 people.