Employment in S.Korea rebounds first in five months

Employment in South Korea rebounded for the first time in five months in July due to the improved job creation in wholesale & retail and food & lodging industries, which were hit hard by the April ferry disaster, a government report showed Wednesday.

The number of those employed increased 505,000 from a year earlier to reach 25,979,000 in July, according to the Statistics Korea. It was the first rebound in five months.

After peaking at 835,000 in February, the country's job growth continued to slow to 649,000 in March, 581,000 in April, 413,000 in May and 398,000 in June.

The four-month slowdown came after the deadly ferry disaster had a negative effect on job creation in the food and lodging industry.

The ferry Sewol capsized and sank off the southwestern coast on April 16, leaving more than 300 people, mostly high school students, dead or missing. Consumers refrained from travel and entertainment as deep grief swept over the entire country.

The industries, hit hard by the ferry disaster, showed signs of recovering. Job creation in the wholesale & retail sector reduced from 67,000 in May to 33,000 in June before jumping to 134,000 in July. Employment in the food and lodging industry increased from 107,000 in May to 142,000 in July.

Job creation in the manufacturing sector increased 191,000 in July from a year earlier after expanding 165,000 in the previous month, but those in the agriculture, finance and transport industries fell 111,000, 49,000 and 16,000 respectively.

Wage earners grew 532,000 from a year earlier to 18,946,000 in July. Among them, regular and irregular workers increased 351,000 and 235,000 each. Those employed on a daily basis reduced 54,000 last month.

By age group, the number of those employed in their 50s and 60s rose 203,000 and 179,000 respectively on year in July. Those in their 20s and 30s climbed 84,000 and 16,000 each.

Hiring rate among those older than 15 was 61.1 percent in July, up 0.7 percentage point from a year earlier. The OECD-method employment rate among those aged 15-64 rose 0.9 percentage point to 66 percent.

The hiring rate gauges the percentage of working people to the working age population or those aged 15 and over. It is used as an alternative to the jobless rate for assessing labor market conditions.

Jobless rate was 3.4 percent in July, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier. The number of those unemployed increased 84, 000 from a year earlier to 912,000 in July.

The unemployment rate among those aged 15-29 was 8.9 percent in July, up 0.6 percentage point from the same month last year.

The jobless rate measures the percentage of those unemployed who actively sought jobs in the past four weeks to the economically active population, or the sum of people employed and unemployed.

The economically inactive population, or people aged over 15 minus the economically active population, reduced 206,000 from a year earlier to 15,637,000 in July.

Among them, those in housework and childcare declined 47,000 and 56,000 each last month. The number of job preparers, or those preparing for job-searching, fell 7,000 in July.

People too discouraged to continue their search for jobs surged 282,000 in July on a yearly basis. Discouraged workers are those who want to work and are available to do so but failed to get a job due to tough labor market conditions. They are those who looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.

The so-called"take-a-rest" group, or those who replied that they took a rest during the job survey period, dipped 71,000 in July from a year earlier. The group is important as it can include those who are unemployed and too discouraged to search for work for a long period of time.