SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment rebounded last month on the back of the elderly job increase, statistical office data showed Friday.

The number of employed people aged 15 and older gained 135,000, or 0.5 percent, over the year to 27,878,000 in January after falling 52,000 in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea.

The overall job growth was driven by the elderly people. The number of jobs for those aged 60 and older advanced 340,000 in January on a yearly basis, and the figure for those in their 30s grew 98,000.

Employment among those aged 15-29 dived 218,000, while jobs for those in their 40s and 50s reduced 71,000 and 14,000 each.

Employment among manufacturers declined 56,000 in January compared with the same month of last year, keeping a downward trend for the seventh straight month.

Jobs lost in the construction and the wholesale and retail industries stood at 169,000 and 91,000 each, continuing to go down for the ninth and the 11th consecutive month, respectively.

The number of jobs in the health and social welfare service, the science and technology service, and the information and communication sectors picked up 119,000, 98,000 and 81,000 each last month.

The number of regular and irregular employees mounted 224,000 and 72,000 each, but the reading for daily laborers diminished 116,000 last month.

The number of self-employed who hired employees shrank 21,000, and the figure for the self-employed without workers retreated 7,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and older stood unchanged at 61.0 percent in January on a yearly basis, while the OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 added 0.1 percentage point to 68.8 percent.

The number of unemployed people was 1,083,000 in January, up 11,000 from a year earlier. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7 percent.

The expanded jobless rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 9.9 percent in the cited month, while the corresponding rate for those aged 15-29 climbed 0.8 percentage points to 16.4 percent.

The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but failed to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts to seek a job actively.

The expanded jobless rate, called labor underutilization indicator, adds those who are discouraged from searching a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time, and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation, to the official unemployment rate.

The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, grew 15,000 from a year earlier to 16,713,000 in January.

The reading for discouraged job seekers added 6,000 to 404,000 last month. The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, was up 128,000 to 2,673,000 in the same month.

The take-a-rest group is considered important as it can include those who are too discouraged to seek a job for an extended period. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)