Half of Small and Medium Enterprises Give Lunar New Year Bonuses... Average 420,000 Won Per Person

Survey of 800 SMEs Reveals
Lunar New Year Bonuses Decrease Compared to Last Year
Average Lunar New Year Fund Shortfall Reaches 19.2 Million KRW

About half of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) plan to pay Lunar New Year bonuses this year.

At the Lunar New Year gift exhibition held at COEX in December 2023, visitors on the 13th are looking at dried yellow corvina fish gifts. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced the results of the "2025 SME Lunar New Year Fund Demand Survey" conducted from the 6th to the 14th among 800 SMEs on the 19th.

Among the SMEs surveyed, 48.9% responded that they "plan to pay" Lunar New Year bonuses. Those who answered "will not pay" accounted for 30.4%, and 20.7% had not yet decided.

However, the bonus payment level was confirmed to be an average of 424,000 KRW per person for fixed amount payments, and 50.5% of the base salary for percentage-based payments. Compared to last year's Lunar New Year bonuses, which were 609,000 KRW for fixed amounts and 60.3% of the base salary for percentage payments, this is a decrease.

Regarding whether the temporary holiday on the 27th will be observed this year, 60.6% answered that they have no plans to observe it. Additionally, among SMEs that do not plan to observe the temporary holiday, 99.2% reported no plans for any other holidays besides the Lunar New Year holiday.

Compared to last year’s Lunar New Year, 33.5% responded that their financial situation is "difficult," which is higher than the 11.0% who said it is "smooth." Meanwhile, 55.5% said it is "no different from last year." The main causes of financial difficulties (multiple responses allowed) were "poor sales" (77.6%) ranked first, followed by "rising prices of raw and subsidiary materials" (31.3%) and "increased labor costs" (19.4%).

SMEs expect to need an average of 229.4 million KRW in funds for this year’s Lunar New Year. The average shortfall compared to needed funds was 19.2 million KRW.

Regarding plans to secure the insufficient Lunar New Year funds (multiple responses allowed), responses were "early collection of payment for deliveries" (49.4%), "borrowing from financial institutions" (30.1%), "payment deferral" (20.5%), and "private loans" (4.8%). Additionally, 15.7% said they have "no countermeasures."

Choo Moon-gap, head of the Economic Policy Headquarters at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "We need to ease the burden on SMEs facing financial difficulties through tangible support such as boosting domestic demand and lowering loan interest rates," adding, "Financial support policies to improve the financial situation of SMEs will also help improve working conditions for employees as well as the companies."