Employment Insurance Subscribers Reach 14.55 Million... Over 500,000 Increase for Two Consecutive Months

Kim Young-jung, Director General of Employment Policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, is explaining the main features of the labor market trends in February 2022 based on employment administration statistics on the morning of the 14th at the Government Sejong Complex in Sejong City.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The number of employment insurance subscribers increased by over 500,000 for two consecutive months. As of February, this marked the largest increase in 21 years.

According to the labor market trends announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 14th, the number of regular employment insurance subscribers at the end of last month was 14,557,000, an increase of 565,000 (4.0%) compared to a year earlier. This is the largest increase for February since 2001 (606,000), marking the biggest rise in 21 years.

The year-on-year increase was 390,000 in September last year, 356,000 in October, 334,000 in November, and 432,000 in December. This year, it recorded over 500,000 for two consecutive months with 548,000 in January and 565,000 last month.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor explained that the continued growth in manufacturing and the increased demand for non-face-to-face digital services influenced the rise in employment insurance subscribers.

By industry, the number of employment insurance subscribers in manufacturing was 3,658,000, an increase of 82,000 (2.3%) compared to the previous year. The number of subscribers in the service industry was 9,993,000, up 449,000 (4.7%).

In particular, among the service sectors, employment insurance subscribers in accommodation and food services reached 669,000, an increase of 44,000 (7.1%). Although this sector recorded negative year-on-year growth for 19 consecutive months until November last year due to the spread of COVID-19, it turned to an increase in December of the same year.

The amount of unemployment benefits paid also remained below 1 trillion won for six consecutive months.

Unemployment benefits, paid from the employment insurance fund to support job seekers' activities, decreased from 1.0149 trillion won in February last year to 878.4 billion won last month. The number of unemployment benefit recipients last month was 608,000, also down 91,000 (13.0%) compared to a year earlier.

Kim Young-jung, Director of Employment Policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, said, "Despite the large-scale spread of COVID-19, the employment market is showing signs of recovery," adding, "However, we will do our best to ensure that support is provided as quickly as possible to those facing difficulties due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic."

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