At work: A salesperson mans a booth at an exhibition in Seoul. Data from the statistics office shows that the number of those employed in the country in March was 28,223,000. That’s a gain of 469,000 from the same month of last year. — Bloomberg
SEOUL: South Korea’s employment rate grew faster on a year-over-year basis in 10 months to March due to the return to normalcy from the Covid-19 pandemic, statistical office data shows.
The number of those employed was 28,223,000 in March, up 469,000 from the same month of last year, according to Statistics Korea.
The overall job increase was led by the elderly people. The number of jobs among those aged 60 or older surged by 547,000 in March from a year earlier, but the readings for those in their 20s and 40s retreated by 86,000 and 63,000, respectively.
Uncertainties remained over the South Korean economy on the continued fall of exports and interest rate hikes.
The number of jobs among manufacturers dropped by 49,000 in March from a year earlier, continuing to decline for the third successive month.
The number of jobs lost in the wholesale and retail and construction sectors stood at 66,000 and 20,000, respectively.
Employment in the health and social welfare services and the lodging and eatery sectors grew 186,000 and 177,000.
The number of regular employees and daily labourers expanded 497,000 and 11,000, but the figure for irregular workers shrank 75,000 last month.
The number of the self-employed who hired workers increased 81,000, and the figure for the self-employed without employees gained 10,000 in March.
The employment rate for those aged 15 or older added 0.8 of a percentage point over the year to 62.2% in March, while the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development method hiring rate for those aged 15 to 64 went up 0.9 of a percentage point to 68.7%.
The number of those unemployed was 840,000 in March, down 34,000 from a year earlier. The jobless rate declined 0.1 of a percentage point to 2.9%.
The expanded jobless rate slipped 2.1 percentage points to 9.4% last month, and the rate for those aged 15 to 29 slumped 2.3 percentage points to 17.8%.
The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but failed to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts seeking employment. — Xinhua
