[Economic Outlook] Employment Indicators Reflecting 'COVID-19' to Be Released This Week... 2nd Supplementary Budget Bill Submitted to National Assembly

Job Fair (Stock Photo)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] This week, employment indicators reflecting the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) will be announced. The second supplementary budget bill for the payment of emergency disaster relief funds is scheduled to be submitted to the National Assembly by the government within next week.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 12th, on the 13th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor will release the March unemployment benefit statistics, and on the 17th, Statistics Korea will announce the employment trends (Economically Active Population Survey) results. Employment indicators, which reflect the economic situation with a lag, had not fully reflected the COVID-19 situation up to February. However, due to the expansion of temporary leave and furloughs, and the suspension of some fiscal job projects, the number of temporarily furloughed workers surged by 29.8% year-on-year to 680,000, the highest in 10 years. Temporarily furloughed workers refer to those who are not working but are certain to return to their jobs, and they are classified as employed persons.

According to employment insurance statistics, the amount paid for unemployment benefits in February reached a record high of 808.3 billion won. This is the first time the monthly unemployment benefit payment has exceeded 800 billion won. It increased by 28% compared to the same month last year (632.4 billion won). Unemployment benefits are a broader concept than job-seeking benefits. That is, the amount includes various allowances and benefits supporting the unemployed, such as job-seeking benefits of 780.9 billion won, early reemployment allowances of 25.8 billion won, and sickness benefits of 100 million won.

In February, 107,000 people newly received unemployment benefit support. Among them, the most affected were middle-aged and older adults. By age group, those in their 50s were the largest at 27,000. Next were those aged 60 and above (22,000), 40s (20,000), 30s (19,000), and 20s (18,000) in that order. Examining the reasons for unemployment, resignations due to company recessions and restructuring reached about 42,300, an increase of 7,100 compared to the same month last year (35,200). Those who lost jobs due to business closures or bankruptcies also numbered about 4,400.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance will also publish the April issue of the Recent Economic Trends (Green Book) on the 17th. In the February Green Book, the government assessed that the Korean economy was 'contracting' due to the impact of COVID-19, and attention is focused on how the level of this diagnosis will change.

This time, a second supplementary budget bill amounting to 7.1 trillion won for the payment of emergency disaster relief funds will also be submitted to the National Assembly. The government has announced its plan to secure the entire amount through expenditure restructuring without issuing separate deficit bonds.

On the 14th, the Bank of Korea will release March export and import price statistics. There is a possibility that export prices of coal and petroleum products have declined due to the impact of COVID-19. In February, overall export prices rose by 1.2% from the previous month due to a rebound in semiconductor prices, while export prices of coal and petroleum products fell by 8.1%.

The Bank of Korea will also disclose the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on the 26th of last month on its website on the same day. On that day (March 26), the Monetary Policy Committee decided to introduce a weekly regular repurchase agreement (RP) purchase system for three months.

On the 17th, the 2019 export and import statistics by settlement currency will be announced. This statistic shows which currencies domestic companies use when receiving export payments. As of 2018, the US dollar accounted for the largest share (84.5%), followed by the euro (5.6%) and the yen (2.7%).

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