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Reduced number of employed for 9 consecutive months… Longest tunnel after the financial crisis

The number of employed has declined in the longest period since the financial crisis in the late 1990s. On the 16th, citizens are applying for unemployment recognition at an Employment Welfare Plus Center in Seoul. [연합뉴스]

– Jobs declined for nine consecutive months. It is the longest employment cold since the financial crisis of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the late 1990s.

November employed 270,000 fewer than the previous year
240,000 youth jobs disappear, the worst
The third coronavirus outbreak is expected to worsen
“Investment of employment budget to increase production”

– On the 16th, the National Statistical Office announced the’employment trend’ of these contents. The number of employed in November of this year was 27,241,000, down 273,000 from a year ago. Although the decline was less than in September (-392,000 people) and October (-421,000 people), it is not a situation to be optimistic. This is because it does not reflect the third spread of Corona 19. The number of employed has decreased for nine months in a row since March this year. It is the longest period since January 98-April 1999 (16 months) when the financial crisis hit.

The outlook is still dark. Chung Dong-myeong, director of the Social Statistics Bureau of Statistics Korea, said, “The period of the December employment trend survey is from 13 to 19.” said.

The problem is more after December. The impact of the third coronavirus epidemic is expected to exceed the first and second levels. This is because the number of new confirmed cases exceeds the 1,000 mark, and the government is weighing whether or not the social distancing is raised in three stages. If you go up to step 3, all stores except essential facilities must be closed. The domestic job market with a high proportion of self-employed is inevitably hit hard.

Employed and unemployed

Employed and unemployed

– According to the statistics by industry in November, the shock was still large in the wholesale, retail, lodging, and restaurant businesses where self-employed people were concentrated. Compared to the previous year, the number of employed has decreased by 328,000. Although better than October (-415,000 people), the decline is still large. The manufacturing industry (-113,000 people) was also affected by Corona 19. Most of the vacancies are filled with temporary (financial) jobs created by the government over budget. The number of employed has increased in public administration, national defense, and social security administration (152,000 people), health and social welfare service industries (114,000 people), and construction industry (77,000 people).

Among the unpaid workers (non-wage workers), the number of self-employed (-115,000 people) and unpaid family workers (-45,000) with employees decreased. Only the number of self-employed (55,000 people) without employees increased. This means that the number of ‘I’m alone boss’ is increasing because of the bad economy, leaving employees and opening stores. By age group, the number of employed decreased in all age groups, excluding those in their 60s or older (372,000). Among them, jobs for young people aged 15 to 29 (-243,000 people) disappeared the most. This is because the number of new recruits has fallen sharply in the wake of the Corona 19 crisis, and the youth are crowded in temporary jobs at wholesale and retail, lodging, and restaurants where damage is concentrated.

The unemployment rate in November was 3.4%, up 0.3 percentage points from the same month last year. The youth unemployment rate was 8.1%, more than twice the overall average. The expanded unemployment rate for the youth was 24.4%. This means that 1 in 4 young adults are virtually unemployed.

With the prolonged crisis, more and more people are giving up their economic activities. The number of inactive economically active population in November was 1667 million, an increase of 431,000 from the previous year. Among them, the number of those who gave up looking for a job at all (those who gave up their job search) increased by 144,000 to 631,000. The second spread of Corona 19 was more severe than in September-October (110,000 people). The number of people who answered that they were just resting (rested) also recorded 2.353,000, an increase of 218,000 from a year ago. Since the change in related statistics in 2003, it is the highest as of November.

Professor Kim So-young of the Department of Economics at Seoul National University pointed out, “Employment is a lagging indicator, and just because the economy is’shining’ is not increasing,” he said. He added, “The government measures are focused only on public jobs for increasing numbers, irrelevant to increasing production, but it could be a waste of budget. “It is right to invest the government employment budget where it could lead to an increase.”

Sejong = Reporter Cho Hyun-sook [email protected]



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