Declining Unemployment Rate for Past 5 Months

The number of the unemployed people fell to 700,000 range in May, compared to the beginning of this year (over 1 million).

The National Statistical Office (NSO) told in `the Report on the Employment in May` that the unemployment figure totaled 780,000 in May, down 68,000 from April. And the unemployment rate also declined to 3.5 percent from the 3.8 percent in last month. The unemployment figure and the unemployment rate of May recorded the lowest since last October (760,000, 3.4 percent).

The number of unemployed workers has been in the downward trend for three months in a row, since last February which recorded the highest peak at 1,069,000. And the adjusted unemployment rate, which deducts the seasonal factors, declined to 3.6 percent from 3.8 percent of April, recording the lowest figure since December in 1997 (3.0 percent).

Sun Joo-Dae, the director of the Population & Social Statistics Bureau of the NSO, explained that the unemployed workers have declined as a whole, as the employment in the construction and the service sector such as the wholesale and the retail business, food business, and lodging business has increased amid gradual economic boost.

The total employed workers amounted to 21,779,000 in May, increased 275,000 (1.3 percent) which is the highest figure since July in 1982 when the NSO had begun to investigate the employment trend by month. The number of the employed increased 99,000 (4.2 percent) in the agricultural and fishery industry, and 60,000 (3.9 percent) in the construction industry. By age group, the unemployed declined in all age groups except 50s.

But the long-term jobless people who have been in the unemployed state, increased to 25,000 from the last month, and the ratio of long-term jobless people to total jobless people also increased to 3.2 percent from 2.8 percent in April. It means that the job market is becoming harsher and harsher toward the long-term jobless people.

The ratio of the regular workers to total wage workers declined to 48.6 percent from 49.0 percent. On the other hand, the temporary workers` portion increased to 34.5 percent from 34.3 percent, and the daily workers` position increased to 16.9 percent from 16.7 percent.

Park Joong-Hyun sanjuck@donga.com