January Employment Increased by 568,000... "New Coronavirus Impact Not Reflected" (Update)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyun-jung and Joo Sang-don] The number of employed people increased by more than 500,000 in January this year as well. This marks the fourth consecutive month of employment growth since October last year. However, the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia) has not yet been reflected in this statistic.

According to the January employment trends announced by Statistics Korea on the 12th, the number of employed people was 26.8 million, an increase of 568,000 (2.2%) compared to the same month last year.

The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 (OECD comparison standard) was 66.7%, up 0.8 percentage points from the same month last year. This is the highest ever recorded for January.

However, employment among people in their 40s remained sluggish. The number of employed people decreased by 84,000 compared to the same month last year. Accordingly, the employment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 78.1%. On the other hand, the employment rates for those aged 60 and over, 30s, 20s, and 50s increased compared to the same month last year.

By industry, employment increased in healthcare and social welfare services (189,000; 9.4%), transportation and warehousing (92,000; 6.5%), and accommodation and food services (86,000; 3.8%). Employment decreased in wholesale and retail trade (-94,000; -2.5%), information and communications (-35,000; -3.9%), and finance and insurance (-32,000; -3.9%).

Among wage workers, the number of regular workers increased by 664,000 (4.8%), but daily workers decreased by 62,000 (-4.3%) and temporary workers decreased by 32,000 (-0.7%).

The number of unemployed people in January was 1.153 million, down 71,000 (-5.8%) compared to the same month last year. The unemployment rate was 4.1%, down 0.4 percentage points from the same period last year.

A Statistics Korea official said, "Since this survey was conducted between the 12th and 18th, the impact of the novel coronavirus was not reflected," adding, "We will need to watch the employment trends in February."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.