Young People Face Employment Freeze Due to COVID-19...Only Older Workers Feel the 'Nearby Warmth' (Comprehensive)

Statistics Korea Announces June Employment Trends
Expanded Unemployment Rate for Ages 15-29 Hits Record High of 26.8%

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyunjung and Joo Sangdon] The employment opportunities for young and middle-aged adults have been narrowing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the number of public jobs for the elderly has been steadily increasing. The number of young people who feel close to being unemployed has surged to the highest level since statistics began, while the number of employed persons aged 60 and over has increased by hundreds of thousands for four consecutive months.

According to the 'June Employment Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 15th, the employment auxiliary indicator 3 (expanded unemployment rate) for the 15-29 age group rose by 2.2 percentage points year-on-year to 26.8%. The expanded unemployment rate is calculated by adding the time-related additional employment seekers, unemployed persons, and potential economically active population, then dividing by the expanded economically active population. It is a perceptual indicator showing whether individuals feel close to being unemployed. This figure surpassed the previous high of 26.3% recorded in May, which was the highest for that month since related statistics began in January 2015.

◆Only those aged 60 and over 'employed alone'= The employment exclusion phenomenon for young and middle-aged adults has persisted for four months since the COVID-19 outbreak. Among the age groups shown by Statistics Korea, all age groups except those aged 60 and over (338,000) showed a decrease in the number of employed persons compared to the previous year: 15-19 (-19,000), 20-29 (-151,000), 30-39 (-195,000), 40-49 (-180,000), and 50-59 (-146,000).

The pattern of declining employment among young and middle-aged adults while only elderly jobs increase has continued for four months since March. Excluding the change in those aged 60, the simultaneous decrease across age groups is the first in over 20 years, except for the 10 months from April 1998 to January 1999 during the IMF financial crisis.

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, also expressed concern about this. On his social network service (SNS) on the same day, he wrote, "It is a painful part that the employment recovery of the youth, who have been relatively more affected by COVID-19 than other age groups, is slow."

On the 10th, unemployment benefit applicants are receiving explanations from officials at the Seoul Employment Welfare Plus Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

◆'Employment backbone' manufacturing sector worsens= Looking at industries, the sluggishness in the manufacturing sector, considered the 'employment backbone,' stands out. The decrease in employment worsened to 65,000 from 57,000 the previous month. This is due to the 'second shock' from COVID-19, including domestic and international economic slowdown and export decline.

Employment also sharply declined in accommodation and food services (-186,000), wholesale and retail trade (-176,000), education services (-89,000), and manufacturing (-65,000) due to reduced face-to-face contact. Meanwhile, employment increased in health and social welfare services (164,000), agriculture, forestry and fisheries (52,000), and transportation and warehousing (50,000). Jung Dong-myeong, Director of Social Statistics Bureau at Statistics Korea, said, "COVID-19 affected all industries, with the most prominent impact on face-to-face service industries." By employment status, temporary workers (-408,000) and daily workers (-86,000) decreased, while regular workers increased by 349,000. Employers with employees decreased by 173,000, and unpaid family workers decreased by 53,000. Conversely, self-employed without employees, the 'solo bosses,' increased by 18,000.

The number of 'temporarily absent workers' classified as employed in statistics was 729,000, an increase of 360,000 (97.7%) compared to a year ago. After maintaining over one million for three consecutive months in March (1,607,000), April (1,485,000), and May (1,020,000), the number slightly decreased last month. Director Jung said, "The increase in temporarily absent workers seems to be due to worsening employment conditions in face-to-face service sectors caused by COVID-19."

Meanwhile, the government plans to expedite the implementation of 575,000 direct job projects from the third supplementary budget approved on the 3rd to respond to the employment market shock caused by COVID-19. Deputy Prime Minister Hong emphasized, "We will make every effort to support the rapid recovery of private jobs by strengthening private consumption capacity through the use of supplementary budget funds and tax support."

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