Employment Decreased by 628,000 in December Last Year... 10 Consecutive Months of Decline (Update)

Statistics Korea, December Employment Trends

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The number of employed people decreased by nearly 630,000 in December last year, continuing the decline for the 10th consecutive month.

According to the December employment trends released by Statistics Korea on the 13th, the number of employed people aged 15 and over was 26,526,000, a decrease of 628,000 (-2.3%) compared to the same month of the previous year. This marks the 10th consecutive month of decline since March of the same year. The employment rate was 59.1%, down 1.7 percentage points from the same month last year.

By age group, the number of employed people increased by 249,000 for those aged 60 and over, but decreased by 254,000 in their 20s, 246,000 in their 30s, 183,000 in their 40s, and 147,000 in their 50s.

The number of temporarily absent workers also increased significantly. In December last year, it reached 745,000, an increase of 438,000 compared to the same month of the previous year.

On the other hand, the number of unemployed people increased. In December last year, the number of unemployed was 1,135,000, up 194,000 (20.6%) compared to the same month of the previous year. This marks the 8th consecutive month of increase. The unemployment rate rose by 0.7 percentage points to 4.1%.

The economically inactive population was 17,255,000, an increase of 690,000 (4.2%) compared to the same month of the previous year. Among them, the number of job seekers preparing for employment was 776,000, up 53,000, and those who gave up looking for a job was 725,000, up 191,000.

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