Jobless Rate for Young Koreans, Especially Women Continues to Rise

The South Korea economy ever before the coronavirus pandemic was tough for young Koreans and it is only getting worse, especially for women:

By gender, a 30.5 percent (65,000) increase was reported among women, while the growth for men stood at 18.5 percent (53,000).

The 2020 situation has been much affected by the novel coronavirus. Nevertheless, similar state figures on employment or unemployment for the past three years indicate that there was little apparent improvement in the hiring index, despite a series of extra budget allocations and cash support for young job seekers.

While the nation’s employment rate was 61.5 percent in May 2017, the figure de facto unchanged to 61.3 in May 2018 and 61.5 percent in May 2019. It had recovered slightly to 60.4 percent in October 2020 after sliding to 59.4 percent in April 2020.

In May 2017, when President Moon pledged to actively increase jobs for the young generation particularly, the de facto jobless rate among those aged between 15-29 was 22.9 percent, according to the Supplementary Index III for Employment compiled by Statistics Korea.

Index III provides a relatively new method of calculating unemployment, counting underemployed people among the de facto unemployed. This category, also called “extended-based” jobless, includes those who work fewer than 36 hours a week and want to work more, as well as seasonal workers who are out of work for part of the year.

The de facto jobless rate rose to 23.2 percent in May 2018, to 24.2 percent in May 2019, and to 26.3 percent in May 2020. It had eased to 24.4 percent in October.

Korea Herald

You can read the whole thing at the link, but it might be time for President Moon to get a new head for Statistics Korea again.