À̹ÌÁö È®´ë South Korea¡¯s job data turned from bad to worse with additions in the number of working people dipping below the 100,000 threshold and the youth jobless rate hitting the highest-ever in May.
According to data released by the Statistics Korea on Friday, the number of the employed stood at 27,064,000 in May, up 72,000 from a year ago. The year-on-year growth fell below 200,000 for the fourth straight month, the longest period since the 2008 financial crisis. The figure stayed in the 100,000 range since February when it declined to 104,000 from 334,000 in January.
The number of unemployed people reached 1,121,000, up 126,000 from a year earlier.
The jobless rate rose 0.4 percentage point on year to 4.0 percent, the highest May figure in 18 years since 2000 when it had reached 4.1 percent.
The downturn in the nation¡¯s job market has been driven by restructuring of mainstay shipbuilding and automobile sectors and reduced hiring in the services sector following the double-digit hike in minimum wage.
The unemployment rate for youth aged between 15 and 29 grew 1.3 percentage points from a year-ago period to 10.5 percent, the highest rate for May since the statistics agency started keeping such data in 1999. Work that pays by hourly basis has sharply been reduced as stores streamlined to save labor cost following the spike in minimum wage, making part time scarcer for young people.
The bureau said the record-high youth jobless rate was due to the civil service exam that was moved forward to May from June last year. Those who applied for the exam among economically inactive people are counted as job seekers and included in the unemployment figure.
By Lee Yu-sup and Choi Mira
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]