5월 취업자 25만9천명↑…20만명대 증가폭 회복
The government has released its latest jobs report...and data shows the number of new jobs are finally on the upswing.
To tell us more about the issue… we have our Ko Roon-hee in the studio.
Roon-hee, start off by summarizing today's job report.
Sure.
One of the main indices included in the jobs report is the on-year increase in the number of people who are employed.
According to Statistics Korea, the total number of employed people in May was around 27-point-three million...up 259-thousand on-year.
The increase had been under the 200-thousand mark for 12 consecutive months until January,... but started to improve in February.
Last month's uptick was mainly due to more new jobs in the health and social work sectors,... which jumped by 124-thousand.
Analysts say, this comes after the government created more public sector jobs in those fields.
Jobs in accommodation and the food service sectors also saw an increase of 60-thousand... thanks to more foreigners visiting South Korea.
And another positive sign was the employment rate among people aged 15 to 64.
It marked 67-point-1 percent... the highest for the month of May since data first started being compiled in 1989.
It's good to see some gradual signs of recovery in the job market.
So just looking at the number of new jobs and the employment rate...the overall situation doesn't look too bad, is this correct?
Unfortunately, a more thorough analysis of the report shows there are some negative aspects.
The number of jobs continues to decline on-year in the manufacturing sector, which is considered South Korea's key growth engine.
The number of employed people in that specific sector fell by more than 70-thousand on year...and has been falling on-year since April last year.
The manufacturing industry has been going through some problems such as restructuring in ship and auto industries.
Other analysts point to falling exports due to the slower growth of the global economy as the reason for the decline.
And one of the biggest hits came from China.
The latest data by the Korea Customs Service shows outbound shipments to China dropped by more than 26-percent on year during the first 10 days of June.
This is also related to a decrease in the number of jobs for people in their 30s and 40s in May, as many people in that age bracket work in manufacuturing...and raises a red flag... as people in that age range are supposed to be actively engaged in economic activities.
Staying on the age topic, let's take a look at the change in number of people employed in May by age group.
We can see that the number increased a lot in the group aged 60 years and older.
It jumped by 354-thousand...which contributed the most to the overall number of new jobs.
An expert in the field explained the reason behind this trend.
"The South Korean government generally tries to stimulate the economy by expansionary fiscal spending. One example is creating jobs in the public sector. And rece
