Rising Unemployment Rate
The Korea National Statistical Office announced on November 9 that the number of employees in the manufacturing sector declined by no less than 115,000 last month and the numbers of those in the primary industries and the transport industry fell 46,000 and 10,000 during the same period, respectively.
Meanwhile, the number increased 105,000 in lodging and food service, 59,000 in construction and 92,000 in healthcare and social welfare services, implying decent full-time jobs are being replaced with temporary and less decent ones.
The rapid decline in the number of manufacturing sector employees had a significant negative effect on South Korea’s rate of employment last month. The unemployment rate soared in Ulsan, South Jeolla Province, Busan and South Gyeongsang Province in particular with regard to the ongoing restructuring of the shipbuilding sector. Specifically, the rate increased by 1.4 percentage points from a year ago and reached 3.6% in Ulsan.
Last month, a total of 923,000 South Koreans were in the state of unemployment, 84,000 more than a year earlier. The number of unemployed persons declined in the group of people in their 40s but increased in the group of those in their 20s and 30s.
The number of unemployed youth rose 54,000 year on year to 371,000 with the youth unemployment rate amounting to 8.5%. The de-facto youth unemployment rate is estimated at 10% in view of, for example, young job seekers doing part-time jobs while preparing for job interviews.