Citizens are looking at the employment bulletin board at Seongdong-gu Office in Seoul last month. Newsis
The number of employed people per year due to the Corona 19 incident recorded the largest decline since the 1998 financial crisis. It is the first time in 11 years that the number of employed has decreased on an annual basis.
According to the’December 2020 and Annual Employment Trends’ released by the National Statistical Office on the 13th, the number of employed last month was 2,6526,000, a decrease of 628,000 from the same month last year. This is the largest decrease in monthly basis in 21 years and 10 months since February 1999 (-658,000 people).
The number of employed fell even more than in April (-476,000 people), when the employment shock was the most severe after the corona 19 outbreak. The employment rate, taking into account population changes, fell 1.7 percentage points over a year to 59.1%.
It is interpreted that the third spread of Corona 19 and social distancing had an effect. The social distancing in the metropolitan area was reinforced in the second phase on November 24 last year and the 2.5 phase on December 8. This survey was conducted on the 13th to 19th of last month to find out whether they were employed or not.
As a result, the average monthly number of employed people last year was 26.94,000, down 218,000 from the previous year. This is the largest decline in the number of employed in 22 years since 1998 when the financial crisis hit (-1276,000 people). In addition, it is the first time in 11 years since 2009 (-87,000 people) that the number of annual employment has decreased.
In addition to 1998 and 2009, there were 4 declines in the number of employed, including in 1984 (-76,000 people) when the oil shock struck, and in 2003 (-10,000 people) when the card crisis broke out.
By age, the number of employed people in their 30s decreased by 165,000, the largest decline, followed by those in their 40s (-158,000) and in their 20s (-146,000). However, the employment rate reflecting the size of the population dropped 2.5 percentage points from those in their twenties, causing the biggest job impact. On the contrary, the number of employed people aged 60 and over has soared 375,000 in one year.
By industry, the number of employed in wholesale and retail businesses decreased by 160,000. Face-to-face service industries such as accommodation and restaurant business (-159,000 people) and education service business (-86,000 people) were also affected. By employment status, the number of temporary workers decreased by 313,000 and the number of daily workers decreased by 101,000.
The employment rate, which means the employed in the population aged 15 or older, recorded 60.1% last year, the lowest annually since 2013. The unemployment rate, which refers to the number of unemployed in the economically active population, reached 4.0%, reaching the 4% level in 19 years after 2001 (4.0%).
Sejong= Youngha Son reporter [email protected]
The new standard changed by Corona, the new normal of’un·home·sl·on’ is coming.
