Impact of COVID-19 3rd Wave: 351,000 Business Workers Decreased Last Month

Ministry of Employment Announces 'January 2021 Business Workforce Survey Results'
Largest Decline in 9 Months... Accommodation and Food Services Down by 240,000

On the 23rd, when special quarantine measures banning all private gatherings of five or more people were implemented in the metropolitan area, a food court in a shopping mall in Seoul showed a quiet scene. From the 24th, the ban on gatherings of five or more people will be extended to restaurants nationwide, and cancellations or refraining from private gatherings will be strongly recommended. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Due to the impact of the third wave of COVID-19, the number of workers employed by domestic businesses last month decreased at the largest rate in nine months.

According to the Business Workforce Survey results announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 25th, as of the last business day of January last year, the number of workers employed by domestic businesses with one or more employees was 18.28 million, down 351,000 (1.9%) compared to the same month of the previous year.

In terms of the monthly decrease in the number of business workers, this was the largest drop since April last year, when the employment shock due to the COVID-19 crisis began in earnest, with a decrease of 365,000. It was a larger decline than the 334,000 decrease in December last year.

Face-to-face service sectors, which were directly hit by 'social distancing,' saw a significant reduction in workers.

The number of workers in accommodation and food services decreased by 240,000 (-18.7%), marking the largest decline ever. Workers in arts, sports, and leisure services also decreased by 72,000 (-1.9%).

The number of manufacturing workers decreased by 72,000, marking the twelfth consecutive month of decline.

The number of public administration workers increased by only 26,000, a sharp drop from 207,000 in November last year. This was largely due to the end of government and local government job projects at the end of the year.

By business size, the number of workers in businesses with fewer than 300 employees was 15.365 million, down 355,000 (-2.3%) compared to the same period last year, while those in businesses with 300 or more employees increased by 4,000 (0.1%) to 2.915 million.

The number of regular workers decreased by 303,000 (-1.9%), temporary and daily workers by 26,000 (-1.5%), and other workers by 22,000 (-2.0%) compared to the same month last year.

Last month, the total wage per worker in businesses with one or more regular workers was 4,004,000 won, an increase of 118,000 won (3.0%) compared to the same month last year.

Regular worker wages increased by 112,000 won (2.7%) to 4,246,000 won, and temporary/daily worker wages increased by 130,000 won (8.2%) to 1,705,000 won.

An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor explained, "The reason why temporary and daily worker wages increased more is that many temporary and daily workers in industries such as accommodation and food services, which have many low-wage workers, lost their jobs in large numbers."

Last month, the average working hours per worker was 166.8 hours, an increase of 2.1 hours (1.3%) compared to the same month last year. This was influenced by the fact that the number of working days in the calendar increased by one day compared to 21 days in the same month last year.

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