South Korea’s jobless rate jumped to the highest level in five years in February, a government report said Wednesday, with officials attributing the rise to seasonal factors and more people seeking work.
According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 4.6 percent last month, up from 3.8 percent in January and 0.1 percentage point higher than the year before. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate also rose 0.5 percentage point, from 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent.
There were some 1.2 million people without jobs, compared to 988,000 the month before.
The latest rate is the highest since February 2010. The statistical office said seasonal factors usually cause numbers to rise in the month.
“February is a month when students are on school break and when people graduate, so it invariably affects unemployment numbers,” said Sim Won-bo, head of the agency’s employment statistics division. Unemployment is calculated by the number of people who want jobs but have been unable to find employment.
Sim said that while unemployment has risen, so have the number of jobs and the total number of people with jobs.
The job market had improved unusually for the better in February 2014, adding 835,000 jobs, and the employment rate managed to increase in February this year as well, gaining 376,000 positions, a strong sign of the state of the job market, the official said. Last month’s number is higher than the 347,000 jobs created in January.
Sim also pointed out that national employment numbers topped 25.19 million last month, the highest reading for February since the government started keeping monthly employment statistics in July 1982.
The unemployment rate for young people between 15 and 29 measured at 11.1 percent in February, up significantly from 9.2 percent a month earlier. The February figure for the age group represents the highest monthly tally since corresponding data began to be compiled in 2000, and is the 18th consecutive monthly increase.
The labor underutilization indicator hit 12.5 percent last month, the highest reading since the government started checking such data last May.
This indicator is based on guidelines made by the International Labor Organization and reflects the number of people who are “underemployed” and those who currently hold part-time jobs but want full-time work.
It also counts unemployed people who have given up looking for work not by choice but due to circumstances, which makes them potential job seekers. A rise in this number is an indication that employment conditions felt by ordinary people are worse than what official jobless figures show.
The agency started to provide the indicator to provide a more accurate picture of the country’s labor market situation.
The finance ministry claimed that February showed a rise in both unemployment and the total number of jobs.
“There is an upward momentum in the job market with manufacturing and services fueling growth and offsetting losses in the farming, fisheries and financial sectors,” it said.
It argued that even while unemployment did rise, so did the employment rate for all people over 15 that stood at 58.8 percent, a 0.2 percentage point gain from a year earlier.
For the young job seekers, the ministry cited a “mismatch” between the large number of college graduates and a relatively lower number of positions available for such well-educated people.
About 70 percent of South Korean youths receive college education and above. This is much higher than 53 percent for Germany and 52 percent for Japan.
The job market is rigid, in part preventing the hiring of young people, and the government will try to push for labor market reforms and introduce hiring schemes that allow students to find work while still at school, the ministry said.
The government has been trying to introduce more flexibility into the job market by reducing the privileges of regular workers, while at the same time correcting low pay and the issue of less job security for non-regular workers. (Yonhap)
