The number of employment insurance holders rebounded for the first time in seven months in January. However, one third or more of the increase was among foreign workers.
The figure also shrank in the manufacturing industry with the exclusion of foreigners. It had been on the wane for four months since October 2023. It fell by 47,000 in their 20s, marking the 17th consecutive month of a decline among young adults.
According to labor market trends released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Feb. 13, the number of employment insurance holders stood at 1,505,800 at the end of January, up 341,000 (2.3 percent) from the same month of 2023. It bounced in January after descending for six consecutive months to 297,000 in December 2023 from 375,000 in June 2023.
Foreign workers who entered Korea under the Employment Permit System accounted for 37.0 percent of the increase in January. They numbered 126,000. The large increase in the number of foreign employment insurance holders was due to an expanded obligation to place workers under the employment insurance system and the large-scale introduction of foreign labor. As of the end of January, there were 222,000 foreign workers in the employment insurance system.
When breaking down the increase in the number of employment insurance holders by industry, the number of those in the service industry jumped by 235,000 to 10,313,000. The health and welfare industries posted an increase of 114,000 thanks to increased demand for care services. A recovery in face-to-face activities added 40,000 to the accommodation and food service industries. But those in the wholesale and retail industries fell by 18,000 due to a slowdown in private consumption. A deteriorating real estate market pulled down the figure in the real estate industry by 2,000.
Those in the construction industry had been on the decline for six months in a row, dropping by 2,000 to 775,000. The manufacturing industry had 3,827,000 members, up 98,000, or 2.6 percent, from a year ago. Among the manufacturing industries, the metal processing (25,000), food (13,000), and transportation equipment (12,000) industries gained employment insurance holders while the electronics and communication (4,000) and textile (3,000) industries lost employment insurance holders.
Excluding foreign workers, the total number of employment insurance holders slid by 11,000. The decline in the number of Korean employment insurance holders had continued for four months since October 2023. By age group, those in their 20s and 40s who were most affected by Korea’s population decline lost 47,000 and 6,000 members, respectively. A decline among young adults continued for 17 months.