Hyundai settles wages after its first full strike in a decade
Hyundai Motor reached a tentative wage deal after Friday's first full strike in a decade. Payroll jobs stood at 20.8 million, up 292,000. The export bank is putting 217.7 million dollars into LS Cable & System's Chesapeake plant.
Economics & Markets··Midday
A tentative wage deal at Hyundai Motor after Friday's first full strike in a decade
The South Korean union at Hyundai Motor said it had reached a tentative agreement with management. A full strike on Friday was the first in a decade, and the deal averts further production losses. The tentative agreement includes a base salary increase of 100,000 won, or 72.31 dollars, a month, a performance bonus worth 400 per cent of base pay and further cash payments. The retirement age is set to rise above 60 once the relevant law is amended, without a pay cut in the first years. From next year to 2028 the company is to take on 500 new technical workers. The union had sought job guarantees over the growing use of robots and artificial intelligence on assembly lines, and the two sides agreed to discuss employment when new businesses are rolled out.[1]
South Korea adds 292,000 payroll jobs, with health and social services carrying the increase
South Korea's wage and salary jobs stood at 20.8 million as of February, up 1.4 per cent from a year earlier, according to first-quarter employment data released by the national statistics agency. It is the largest annual increase since the first quarter of 2024. The statistics count each job separately, so a person holding two jobs is counted twice. The gain accelerated through the year: an annual increase of 15,000 in the first quarter of last year became 111,000 in the second, 139,000 in the third and 221,000 in the fourth. The largest contribution came from health and social welfare services, at 127,000 jobs.[2]
Korea's export bank puts 217.7 million dollars into a Virginia subsea cable plant
The state-run bank said it is providing 217.7 million dollars of financing for the subsea cable factory LS Cable & System is building in Chesapeake. The bank said the aim is to help the company take an early position in North America's supply chain. LS Cable & System is investing about 1 trillion won, or 725.6 million dollars, in the plant. It is expected to be completed in the second half of 2027 and to produce 500 km a year of high-voltage direct-current subsea cable, which carries large volumes of electricity between land masses, islands and countries with low losses.[3]
