Unemployment Ratio Increasing in Straight 4 Month Recording 3.7 Percent in January

Unemployment rate in January marked 3.7 percent after continual rising in last 4 months.

According to the `employment movement in January, 2002`, which Korea National Statistical Office (KNSO) announced on the 18th, total unemployed persons numbered 819,000 in January increasing by 7.5 percent from December 2001. The ratio of unemployment in January increased 0.3 percent point from last December, which has risen since last September.

Jang Gyeong-Se chief of Social Statistics Div. in KNSO said, "as hiring in construction declined in winter season and college students joined seeking Arbeits during vacation, jobless rate increased." Hence, ignoring the seasonal influence, the figure marks 3.2 percent fell by 0.1 percent point from the previous month.

By age, the unemployment ratios of the aged 20s and 30s were 7.9 percent and 3.1 percent increasing by 0.4 percent from the former month, as is same in other age groups. But the figure of teenagers was 13.2 percent decreased by 1.3 percent, as more students got jobs.

Among the people out of economic activities, people who gave up searching jobs numbered 89,000 increased by 6,000 persons from last month. The number of jobless people who are seeking jobs for over 12 months fell to 11,000 a little less than in December.

By segment, the number of employed in self-employed business and private and public service rose a little. But total employed people in agriculture, forestry and fishery sector (9.3 percent) and in construction sector (7.5 percent) numbered 21 million 25,000 decreased by 1.5 percent due to seasonal influence.

sanjuck@donga.com