S.Korea's employment falls for 3 months over COVID-19

Source: Xinhua | 2020-06-11

South Korea's employment fell for three straight months through May as companies led employees to go on an unpaid leave or be laid off amid an economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak, statistical office data showed Wednesday.

The number of those employed stood at 26,930,000 in May, down 392,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. The employment declined 195,000 in March and 476,000 in April each.

It marked the first time since December 2009 that the employment continued to slide for three straight months.

Amid worry about the coronavirus pandemic, people refrained from outside activities such as shopping, traveling and eating out, hitting hardest the services industry.

The number of jobs in the wholesale and retail sector dived 189,000 in May from a year earlier, keeping a downward trend for the 12th consecutive month.

Employment in the eatery and lodging sector dipped 183,000 last month, and the reading for the services industry declined 70,000 in the month.

The COVID-19 fallout extended beyond the services industry. The number of employees in the manufacturing sector reduced 57,000 in May after shrinking 23,000 in March and 44,000 in April each.

The number of irregular workers nosedived 501,000 in May from a year earlier, and the figure for day laborers fell 183,000. The number of regular workers increased 393,000.

The number of those who took a leave of absence was 1,020,000 in May, up 685,000 from a year earlier. It topped 1 million for the third straight month.

The hiring rate for those aged 15 or higher retreated 1.3 percentage points over the year to 60.2 percent in May.

The OECD-method employment rate for those aged between 15 and 64 lost 1.3 percentage points to 65.8 percent.

The employment rate gauges the percentage of working people to the working-age population, or those aged 15 or above. Given the aging population, it is used as an alternative to show the labor market conditions more precisely.

The number of those unemployed was 1,278,000 in May, up 133,000 from a year earlier. Unemployment rate gained 0.5 percentage points to 4.5 percent last month.

Both the number and the rate marked the highest May figure since relevant data began to be compiled in 1999.

The expanded jobless rate, which reflects labor market conditions more accurately, increased 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier to 14.5 percent in May.

The expanded unemployment rate for those aged between 15 and 29 went up 2.1 percentage points to 26.3 percent.

The official unemployment rate refers to those who are immediately available for work but fail to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts to actively seek a job.

The expanded jobless rate adds those who are discouraged from searching a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time, and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation, to the official jobless rate.

The number of economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, was 16,548,000 in May, up 555,000 from a year earlier.

The so-called "take-a-rest" group, which replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, expanded 323,000 from a year earlier to 2,286,000 in May.

It is considered important as the group can include those who are unemployed or too discouraged to search for work for an extended period of time.

Discouraged job-seekers, who gave up efforts to seek a job because of the worsened labor market conditions, rose 39,000 over the year to 578,000 in May.