January Unemployment Benefits Payments 'Record High' with Faster Pace Than Last Year

6.69 Million People Received 960.2 Billion Won
31% Increase from 733.6 Billion Won in January Last Year
Growth Rate of Employment Insurance Subscribers Declines
Only 151,000 More Compared to Previous Year

On the 3rd, as the employment shock due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic intensifies, a citizen visiting the Nambu Employment Center in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, is moving to the unemployment benefits application consultation desk. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The amount of unemployment benefits paid last month nearly reached 1 trillion won. This is due to the hiring market freezing as a result of the COVID-19 impact.

According to the "January 2021 Labor Market Trends Based on Employment Administration Statistics" released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 8th, the amount of job-seeking benefits paid last month was 960.2 billion won, a 31% increase from 733.6 billion won the previous year.

Last year's payment amount reached a record high of 11.8507 trillion won, and this trend has not been broken since the beginning of the year.

Conversely, the increase in employment insurance subscribers has slowed. Last month, the number of subscribers was 13.835 million, an increase of 151,000 compared to the same month last year.

The increase was smaller than 337,000 in September, 365,000 in October, 394,000 in November, and 239,000 in December of last year.

In particular, employment insurance subscribers under the age of 29 numbered 2.399 million, marking a decrease (-25,000) for the first time in four months since September last year. Those in their 30s also decreased by 57,000 to 3.314 million.

Employment insurance subscribers in the manufacturing sector, which is classified as relatively high-quality jobs, decreased by 13,000 last month to 3.537 million.

This decline has continued since a decrease of 65,000 in July last year. Especially, employment insurance subscribers in manufacturing companies with fewer than 300 employees decreased by 0.5% (12,000) compared to January last year.

Since the second half of 2019, structural adjustments centered on the automobile and shipbuilding industries and the contraction of the global value chain (GVC) have overlapped, and COVID-19 has further compounded the situation.

Special types of workers (teuksoogeunro hyeongtae jongsaja, teukgo), who were hit hard by COVID-19, are not included in the employment insurance coverage, so the actual employment situation among the youth is presumed to be more severe.

Source: Ministry of Employment and Labor

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