Young People Hit Hard by COVID-19 Employment Shock... Over 200,000 Fewer Employed Each Month

Decrease Rate Slows but Resurgence Causes Increase Again
218,000 New Jobs Lost in September Alone
Perceived Unemployment Rate at 25.4%... Up 4.3%P in One Year

On the 16th, a job seeker visiting an Employment Welfare Plus Center in Seoul is looking at the job information bulletin board. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] It has been revealed that the youth population (ages 15-29) experienced a monthly decrease of about 200,000 employed persons from March to September this year due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Following the resurgence of COVID-19 in mid-August, nearly 220,000 new jobs were lost in September alone.

According to the 'September Employment Trends' announced by Statistics Korea on the 16th, the number of employed persons aged 15 and over was 27,012,000, a decrease of 392,000 (-1.4%) compared to the same month last year. Consequently, the employment rate fell by 1.2 percentage points to 60.3%.

In particular, the number of newly employed youth decreased by 218,000 in September compared to the same month last year. Accordingly, the employment rate dropped from 43.7% in September last year to 42.1% this September, a decline of 1.6 percentage points. The decrease in newly employed youth has continued for eight consecutive months from February to September this year. The decline sharply increased to 229,000 in March and rose further to 245,000 in April, then decreased to 172,000 last month. However, due to the resurgence of COVID-19, the decrease in youth employment expanded again.

The youth unemployment rate soared to 9.6%, up from 7.9% in September last year. The expanded unemployment rate, which reflects perceived unemployment, reached 25.4%, an increase of 4.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year. This is the highest level since statistics began in 2015.

In the labor market, only those aged 60 and over continued to see an increase in jobs. The number of employed persons aged 60 and above increased by 419,000, of which those aged 65 and over increased by 256,000. In contrast, employment decreased across the board in the 30s (-284,000), 20s (-198,000), 40s (-176,000), and 50s (-133,000) age groups.

Looking at the decrease in employment by industry, the impact of the decline in youth employment is clearly evident. The largest decreases were in accommodation and food services (-225,000, -9.8%), wholesale and retail trade (-207,000, -5.7%), and education services (-151,000, -7.9%). By occupation, sales workers (-172,000, -5.7%) and service workers (-136,000, -4.4%) showed notable declines. Among wage workers in September, regular workers increased by 96,000 (0.7%), but temporary workers decreased by 303,000 (-6.2%) and daily workers by 41,000 (-3.0%). The resurgence of COVID-19 has concentrated the decline on jobs with relatively unstable employment status. Working hours also decreased. The average weekly working hours were 39.2 hours, down 1.4 hours compared to the same month last year. In particular, wholesale and retail trade and accommodation and food services decreased by 1.9 hours, and manufacturing decreased by 0.5 hours.

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