Employment Increased... Temporary Jobs Growth Surpasses Regular Jobs

Statistics Korea Announces 'April Employment Trends'

[Sejong=Asia Economy reporters Son Seon-hee and Moon Chae-seok] Last month, the number of employed people increased by more than 650,000, marking the largest rise in 6 years and 8 months. After the employment figures had been declining since the COVID-19 pandemic, they turned positive in March and showed recovery for two consecutive months. However, youth unemployment remains high, and the door to quality jobs is narrow, leading to assessments that the qualitative recovery of employment still has a long way to go.

According to the 'April Employment Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 12th, the total number of employed people last month was 27,214,000, an increase of 652,000 compared to the same month last year. This is the largest increase since August 2014, when employment rose by 670,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 recorded 66.2%, up 1.1 percentage points from the same month last year, and the employment rate for those aged 65 and over also rose by 2.2 percentage points. Notably, this is the first time since January 2018 that employment rates have increased across all age groups. On the other hand, the number of unemployed people was 1,147,000, down 25,000 from the same month last year, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 4.0%.

The government responded positively. Jung Dong-myung, Director of the Social Statistics Bureau at Statistics Korea, explained, "Employment increased for two consecutive months due to economic recovery supported by domestic production and consumption expansion, strong exports, eased social distancing measures, and the base effect of the employment shock from April last year."

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, also emphasized the improvement. At the morning meeting of related ministers (Nokshil meeting) on the same day, Hong said, "The recovery of the labor market is becoming clear," adding, "Manufacturing employment turned positive for the first time in 14 months, and employment in the service sector, which was severely affected by COVID-19, increased significantly for two consecutive months including last month." He further stated, "We plan to focus policy efforts on job creation and stabilizing the labor market."

Although the pace of employment recovery is fast, the qualitative recovery is slow when looking at specific figures. Temporary jobs (an increase of 379,000) increased more than regular jobs (an increase of 311,000), which are considered 'stable jobs.' This is the first time in 18 years and 7 months that the increase in temporary jobs has surpassed that of regular jobs.

The number of regular workers, which increased by only 5,000 in December last year, still has not reached pre-COVID-19 levels. Although the population categorized as 'not working but able to work' generally decreased, it actually increased among people in their 30s, who are considered the 'middle' of the labor market.

The expanded unemployment rate (Employment Supplementary Indicator 3), which counts not only unemployed people aged 15 to 29 but also potential workers and job seekers, stands at 25.1%. This means that one in four young people still cannot find a job.

Professor Yoon Dong-yeol of Konkuk University's Department of Business Administration said, "Since the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities for young people to get quality jobs have clearly decreased," adding, "Companies are still not practically prepared to hire people in their 20s and 30s." He advised, "It is necessary for the government to support companies so that they can grow steadily and hire employees."

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