"Employment Decreased by 980,000 Last Month"…Government to Mobilize All Available Measures

Meeting of the Green Room on the 10th... Goal to Create Over 900,000 Direct Jobs

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] On the 10th, the government discussed countermeasures regarding the January employment statistics, which showed that the number of employed people decreased by more than 980,000 compared to a year ago.

The government held a meeting of related ministers (Nokshil Meeting) at the Government Seoul Office in the morning, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki.

According to the 'January 2021 Employment Trends' announced by Statistics Korea on the same day, the number of employed people last month was 25,818,000, a decrease of 982,000 compared to the same month last year. This is the largest decline since December 1998 during the foreign exchange crisis, when the decrease was 1,283,000.

Participants diagnosed that the main cause of the expanded decline in the number of employed people in January was the intensified reduction in employment in face-to-face service industries such as accommodation, food service, and wholesale and retail trade, with the number of service industry employees decreasing by 898,000, as strengthened quarantine measures continued due to the third wave of COVID-19.

Although the decline in manufacturing employment in January (a decrease of 46,000) narrowed compared to December last year (a decrease of 110,000) due to improvements in economic indicators such as exports, it was judged that there is a time lag in the impact on other sectors due to the lagging nature of employment in the economic cycle.

Additionally, seasonal factors such as heavy snowfall and severe cold, the ending and resumption of public job projects at the end and beginning of the year, and the base effect from the favorable employment increase in January last year (an increase of 568,000) were also considered to have influenced the figures.

Accordingly, while the number of regular workers increased by 36,000, temporary and daily workers decreased by about 800,000.

Participants stated, "We are seriously aware of the severity of the employment market, where the decline in the number of employed people has significantly expanded for two consecutive months," and "We have decided to mobilize all available policy measures for a full-scale response."

Accordingly, the government plans to create more than 900,000 direct jobs in cooperation with local governments during the first quarter. They also announced plans to strengthen the safety net for vulnerable employment groups through enhanced support for employment retention subsidies, emergency employment stabilization funds, and rapid support for the National Employment Support System. Furthermore, they added that they will accelerate the preparation of customized job measures for youth and women within the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the meeting was attended by Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jae-gap, Statistics Korea Commissioner Ryu Geun-kwan, Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs Lee Ho-seung, and Senior Presidential Secretary for Jobs Im Seo-jung.

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