Unemployment Rate Rises again… Giving up in Finding Jobs Frequently Occur

The unemployment rate, which has decreased since March, began to rise again. As the economy freezes, temporary and daily workers along with the long-term unemployed people are reportedly increasing. Those giving up in finding jobs are increasing as well.

According to the `July Employment Trend` announced by the National Statistical Office (NSO) yesterday, the number of the unemployed was 760,000, which were 15,000 people more than the last month, and the unemployment rate was 3.4 percent, which was 0.1 percent higher than the last month.

The NSO said that this was the case because college students began to find a job during vacation and the employed people in their 30s have decreased.

However, the statistics has revealed that since the fallen economy, the quality of the labor market has lowered, including the aggravation of the condition for finding a job. Although the number of the employed people during July was estimated to have increased to 21.76 million people, which were 12,000 more than the previous month, the number of those who work more than 36 hours per week has decreased by 622,000.

Moreover, the number of the long-term unemployed who could not find a job for more than a year has increased by 15,000, 1 percent higher than the previous month.

Among the wage workers, the percentage of the regular job has decreased from 48.6 percent to 48.2 percent, whereas the temporary job has increased from 34.4 percent to 34. 5 percent, and the daily job has increased from 17 percent to 17.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of the unemployed based on the OECD standard has increased to 809,000, which were 12000 more than the previous month, and the unemployed rate has increased to 3.6 percent, 0.1 percent higher than the previous month.

yhchoi65@donga.com