Annual Employment Increased by 369,000 Last Year... Largest Growth in 7 Years (Update)

Employment Trends

On the 16th, the 'Tomorrow JOB We Find Together, Employment Fair' is taking place at Haenuri Town in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seonhee] The annual number of employed persons last year increased at the largest rate in seven years.

According to the 'December 2021 and Annual Employment Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 12th, the total number of employed persons last year was 27,273,000, an increase of 369,000 compared to the previous year. This exceeds the government's expected employment change of 350,000 announced during the economic policy direction in December last year.

The reason for the increased employment growth is interpreted as a base effect due to the significant employment market shock in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the annual number of employed persons decreased by 218,000.

The annual employment rate last year recorded 60.5%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous year, while the unemployment rate during the same period fell by 0.3 percentage points to 3.7%.

Although the total number of employed persons increased annually, employment shocks due to the COVID-19 pandemic continue, especially in face-to-face service industries. The number of employed persons in wholesale, retail, accommodation, and food services decreased by 197,000 last year. This marks the second consecutive year of decline following 2020 (-319,000), but the decrease has narrowed.

The number of self-employed persons with employees also decreased by 65,000 last year, marking the third consecutive year of decline following 2019 (-114,000) and 2020 (-165,000). However, on a monthly basis, the number of self-employed persons with employees increased by 53,000 in December last year, turning to an upward trend for the first time in 3 years and 1 month. Statistics Korea explained that the increase was mainly in health and welfare services and accommodation and food services.

The monthly number of employed persons in December last year increased by 773,000, the largest increase in 7 years and 10 months since February 2014.

Gong Mi-sook, Director of the Social Statistics Bureau at Statistics Korea, said, "The base effect from the large employment decrease in 2020 due to COVID-19, changes in industrial structure such as non-face-to-face digital transformation, and favorable exports have sustained the employment recovery trend."

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