Nearly half of South Korea’s record high number of discouraged workers in June were those in their 20s and 30s, while senior Koreans in need to afford living after retirement also went on searching for jobs without success amid the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of discouraged workers, referring to those who are willing and able to work but have given up to find job in the last four weeks upon feeling there are no suitable available jobs, reached 583,000 in June in Korea, showed the Statistics Korea’s data on Monday.

The figure is the highest for June since 2014 when related data compiling began under the upgraded system. The monthly count also has been on an upward trend for the past 16 months.

Of the total discouraged workers in June, those in their 20s or 30s made up 46.8 percent or 273,000 people. Discouraged 20s counted at 186,000 after adding 100,000 more from a year earlier, while those in their 30s numbered at 87,000, up 10,000 on year.

The number of discouraged male workers in their 30s decreased by 130,000 compared to a year earlier, but those for females in 20s and 30s and men in 20s increased.

The number of discouraged workers aged 60 and older also surged 57,000 on year to 167,000 in June. The seniors accounted for 28.6 percent of the total discouraged workers, versus 20.4 percent marked a year earlier.

A growing number of seniors are actively returning to the job market even after retirement as the society rapidly ages, noted a statistic bureau official.

In June, the number of workers aged 60 and older totaled 5.62 million, up 399,000 on year. Jobless count for the same age group came at 181,000, up 11,000 on year.

Meanwhile, worries are growing for job seekers as the country goes under the fourth wave of Covid-19 outbreak.

Job search site JobKorea’s recent survey on 995 job seekers showed that 78.2 percent fear that they would not be able to land a job this year. The survey was conducted from July 7 to 11 when the fourth wave began.

They worried most about companies postponing their hiring schedule due to the virus resurgence (41.0 percent). About the same number of respondents - 40.2 percent - feared of companies canceling hiring.

By Pulse

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