Nearly half of South Koreans have either lost their jobs or suffered a salary cut, a survey has found, in what is viewed as widespread fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to latest data from Statistics Korea on Friday, 49-point-seven percent of people surveyed in May said they were hit with changes in their employment situation after the pandemic began in January.

Twenty-six-point-seven percent said their salaries were cut, while nine percent said they were forced to go on unpaid leave. Fourteen percent said they had lost their jobs.

Similar to past financial crises in the late 1990s and in 2008, those holding temporary jobs and those in the bottom 20 percent income bracket saw the biggest drop in their wages.

While disposable income among those holding permanent jobs grew three-point-seven percent on-year in the first quarter, that of temporary workers declined three-point-four percent in the same period.

Meanwhile, the number of people who received state job-seeking allowances surpassed 600-thousand in March, then 700-thousand after June.