■Statistics Office’February Employment Trend’
470,000 employed ↓… Longest decline after the tribulation
Intensifying employment in face-to-face service industries such as restaurants
The number of unemployed people exceeds 1.35 million, the highest ever
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki “Relieves employment difficulties…
March improvement will continue” rosy outlook
Employment declines throughout the year, and employment in February is still frozen. Employment recovered only by those in their 60s and over thanks to the resumption of public jobs, but the number of employed decreased in all other age groups. The government predicts that a spring breeze will blow for employment from March as a result of fiscal jobs, but it is expected that the recovery of employment that can be experienced will not be easy as the situation of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) does not improve rapidly.
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According to the employment trend released by the National Statistical Office on the 17th, the number of employed in February was 2,6365,000, a decrease of 473,000 from the same month last year. Since March of last year, the negative has continued for 12 months, and it has declined for 16 consecutive months from January 1998 to April 1999, when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suffered a foreign currency crisis, showing a decline in the longest period. However, the contraction was less than in January (-982,000), when nearly 1 million jobs evaporated due to the reopening of tax-invested fiscal jobs and the easing of social distancing.
Face-to-face service businesses such as accommodation and restaurant businesses (-232,000 people) and wholesale and retail (-194,000 people) hit by Corona 19 are still deteriorating employment conditions. The cold wind continues to blow even for temporary workers (-317,000) and daily workers (80,000), which are the underprivileged. On the other hand, the number of employment in the health, social welfare service, public administration, defense and social security administration industries, which are related to government job projects, increased by 91,000 and 38,000, respectively.
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Even by age, the number of employed decreased in all age groups except in their 60s. The number of employed people aged 60 and over declined by 15,000 in January this year due to the public job vacancy, but increased by 212,000 in February due to the effect of elderly jobs. The number of employees in their 30s (-238,000), 40s (-166,000), 50s (-139,000), and 20s (-106,000) all dropped by more than 100,000. The employment rate over 15 years old fell 1.4 percentage points to 58.6%, the lowest in eight years since February 2013 (57.5%). So-young Kim, professor of economics at Seoul National University, said, “As employment follows the trend of industry, it will not be easy for companies to recruit until the Corona 19 epidemic ends and the economy recovers.” .
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The number of unemployed people reached 1353,000, an increase of 201,000 from a year ago. As of February, it was the most common since June 1999, when statistics were prepared. In particular, the unemployment rate for youth expansion (employment subsidy indicator 3) rose 3.7 percentage points to 26.8%, the highest in February. The number of people who gave up employment due to hiring suspensions, etc. increased, and the number of people who chose’rested’ even though they had the ability to work was 2573,000, an increase of 216,000 compared to last year. The number of people who gave up job hunting also increased by 218,000 from the same month last year to 752,000. The chronically unemployed population of those who have lost their will to work is 3.12 million, which has been maintained for two months after surpassing 3 million for the first time in the history of this year.
Despite this situation, Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki and Minister of Strategy and Finance posted a post on Facebook on the same day, saying, “The difficulties in the employment market in February have been remarkably mitigated.” “The improvement of the employment index will continue in March.” They are relieved that the situation is a little better than January, which came out as a shock than expected. In the case of March, due to the base effect that the number of employed people turned negative due to the impact of Corona 19 last year, it is bound to improve to some extent. Criticism that it is too’rosy’ comes out in a situation where it has not yet been able to return to before December, when distance distancing has been strengthened in earnest. This is because it is not an employment recovery trend, but an optical illusion on the indicator may fall in a state where bad conditions continue. For example, the number of employed in the manufacturing industry, which is classified as a relatively stable job, has decreased by 27,000, showing a decline for 12 consecutive months since March last year. Even if the distance is eased due to high economic uncertainty and poor employment conditions, self-employed people do not immediately start hiring employees. Professor Ahn Dong-hyun of the Department of Economics at Seoul National University said, “The employment of college graduates is almost closed in large companies, and decent private jobs are not showing any recovery.” I wonder if jobs will be created,” he pointed out.
/ Sejong = Reporter Woo Young-tak [email protected]
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