The average number of days off for corporations implementing summer vacations this year came to 3.8 days. But while many large corporations take five days or more, nearly half of small and midsize corporations take only three days, showing a clear gap by corporate size.
According to the "2026 summer vacation status and economic outlook survey" that the Korea Enterprises Federation surveyed 674 corporations with five or more employees nationwide and released on the 12th, 88.6% of responding corporations said they will implement a summer vacation this year. The remaining 11.4% said they adopt a system allowing employees to use annual leave freely throughout the year without a set period.
Vacation days showed a polarized pattern by corporate size. Among large corporations with 300 or more employees, "five days or more" was the most common response at 65.5%, while among small and midsize corporations with fewer than 300 employees, "three days" was the most frequent at 48.5%. Only 32.4% of small and midsize corporations offered five days or more.
Wallets also tightened somewhat. The share of corporations planning to pay summer vacation allowances this year was 53.0%, down 1.0 percentage point from last year. For allowances as well, 61.0% of large corporations with 300 or more employees said they would pay them, while among small and midsize corporations with fewer than 300 employees, the figure was 52.1%, showing a gap.
This summer vacation mood appears linked to corporations' opaque economic outlook. In response to a question about the outlook for the second half of this year, more than half of corporations (50.2%) said it would be "about the same as the first half." Responses saying the economy will "worsen" fell to 3.71%, down 9.7 percentage points from last year's survey, but those saying it will "improve" also shrank to 12.7%, down 2.9 percentage points year over year.