The number of employed workers in January decreased by 980,000 compared to the previous year…the largest unemployment crisis since the IMF period

Enter 2021.02.10 08:00

1.57 million unemployed people, the highest ever… 5.7% unemployment rate
The number of employed in the service industry alone decreased by 367,000
The increase in the number of employed people over 60 stops due to the end of public jobs

In the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the number of employed people decreased by 982,000 in January. This is the largest decline in the number of employed people since the preparation of related statistics. This is the largest employment turmoil since the decline of 1283,000 people in December 1998, when the IMF (International Monetary Fund) was hit by the foreign exchange crisis. The number of unemployed people is the highest since June 1999, when the National Statistical Office started preparing related statistics.

According to the employment trend for January released by the National Statistical Office, the number of employed was 26818,000, a decrease of 982,000 from the same month last year. The employment rate for the aged 15 to 64, which is based on OECD comparison, was 64.3%, down 2.4 percentage points from the same month last year. The employment rate between the ages of 15 and 64 fell across all age groups, including those in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.

The number of unemployed in January this year was 1.57 million, an increase of 417,000 (36.2%) from the same month last year. This is the highest since the National Statistical Office started preparing statistics in June 1999. The unemployment rate was 5.7%, up 1.6%p from the same month last year. The employment shock is prolonging as the number of employed continues to decline after the spread of Corona 19.

The number of employed has declined at all ages. The number of employed people in their 60s or older, which showed an increase every month due to the end of the public job program, decreased by 15,000. It decreased by 273,000 people in their 30s, 255,000 people in their 20s, 210,000 people in their 40s, and 170,000 people in their 50s. When looking at the number of employed by gender, the number of men was 14,939,000, a decrease of 385,000 (2.5%) from the same month of the previous year, and the number of women decreased by 597,000 (5.2%) to 10879,000.

The lodging and restaurant industries, industries affected by the social distancing caused by the COVID-19 quarantine, decreased the number of employed by 367,000 people (15.7%) compared to the same period last year. The number of employed decreased in wholesale and retail businesses (-218,000 people·-6.1%), associations and organizations, repair and other personal service businesses (-103,000 people·-8.5%). By occupation group, the number of service workers decreased significantly with 375,000 (-11.7%), and sales workers (-210,000 people, -7.0%), experts and related workers (-171,000 people, -3.1%) ), etc.

During this period, the inactive population was 17.8 million. The inactive population is a person who is neither employed nor unemployed among the population aged 15 or older. Those who do not engage in economic activities or are taking a break without willing to do economic activities include full-time housewives, senior citizens, job seekers, college students, and job seekers.

Looking at the inactive population by sector, it increased from households (428,000, 7.2%) and rest (379,000, 16.2%), up 867,000 from the same month last year. The number of people who gave up job hunting was 775,000, an increase of 233,000 from the same month last year.

Looking at the increase and decrease from the same month of the previous year by job status, the number of regular workers among wage workers increased by 36,000 (0.2%), but the number of temporary workers was 563,000 (-12.7%), and the number of daily workers was 232,000 (- 17.0%) respectively decreased. The proportion of full-time workers among the total employed was 56.6%, up 2.2 percentage points from the same month last year. This is because the number of temporary and daily workers has decreased.

Among non-wage workers, the number of self-employed without employees increased by 32,000 (0.8%), but the number of self-employed with employees decreased by 158,000 (10.9%). It is interpreted as reducing the number of employees employed by self-employed people suffering from management difficulties due to Corona 19 and running a business alone.

By working hours, the number of employed over 36 hours was 19539,000, a decrease of 1589,000 (-7.5%), but the number of employed under 36 hours increased by 262,000 (5.1%) to 5.387,000. The average working hours per week was 38.6 hours, down 1.8 hours from the same month last year. It can be interpreted that stable jobs with relatively long working hours decreased, and short-term jobs increased.