Average Summer Vacation Stands at 3.8 Days; Half of Firms Predict Second-Half Economy to 'Tread Water'

The average number of summer vacation days set by companies this year stands at 3.8 days, a level similar to last year. According to a survey by the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) of 674 companies nationwide with five or more employees, 88.6% of respondents said they implement summer vacations.

A disparity in vacation days was observed by company size. 65.5% of large companies with 300 or more employees responded that they grant '5 days or more' of leave. In contrast, 48.5% of SMEs with fewer than 300 employees were found to provide '3 days' of vacation.

Vacation management methods varied by industry. In manufacturing, 69.7% concentrated leave over about one week. In non-manufacturing, a staggered vacation system spread over 1-2 months accounted for 64.6%. For companies implementing short-term or alternating two-week vacations, 67.5% planned the time for early August, followed by late July at 23.8%.

53.0% of companies said they have plans to provide vacation allowances, down 1.0 percentage points from 54.0% last year. The proportion of companies with 300 or more employees offering allowances was 61.0%, higher than that of companies with fewer than 300 employees (52.1%).

The response that the second-half economy would be 'similar to the first half' was the highest at 50.2%. The 'will worsen' response dropped 9.7 percentage points year-on-year to 37.1%. The 'will improve' response fell 2.9 percentage points year-on-year to 12.7%.