Hong Nam-ki: "There Is Still a Long Way to Go for Employment Market Improvement, but It Is a Fact That It Is Getting Better"

Statistics Korea Announces 'July Employment Trends'
July Employment Declines for 5 Consecutive Months...Longest Decrease in 11 Years

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, said on the 12th regarding the 'July Employment Trends,' "Although it is still difficult compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, the fact that the employment situation has been steadily improving every month since May is a fact."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong stated on his social network service (SNS) on the 12th, "The decrease in the number of employed people compared to the same month last year has been shrinking for three consecutive months from the April low point (476,000) to May (392,000), June (352,000), and July (277,000)."

According to the July employment trend results announced by Statistics Korea earlier that day, the number of employed people decreased by 277,000 to 27,106,000. This marks the fifth consecutive month of decline since the impact of COVID-19 began in March. This is the longest period of decline in 11 years since the financial crisis in 2009, when employment decreased for eight consecutive months from January.

He also said, "Our employment indicators mainly use a method comparing the same month of the previous year, but it is effective to directly compare the seasonally adjusted numbers with the previous month." The seasonally adjusted number of employed people increased for three consecutive months: May (153,000), June (79,000), and July (72,000). He added, "The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also diagnosed in the 2020 Korea Economic Report released yesterday that the deterioration of our labor market is very small compared to other member countries."

He said, "There is still a long way to go to return to the pre-COVID-19 period," adding, "The slow improvement in youth employment indicators is particularly painful."

He continued, "We will support the rapid recovery of damage caused by heavy rains and ensure there are no difficulties in relief activities through active fiscal input and close cooperation between the whole government and public institutions." He also emphasized, "We will strengthen efforts to create jobs and expand employment safety nets in our economy by faithfully reflecting the Korean New Deal project in next year’s budget currently being prepared."

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