More Korean women economically active in 2017: data

Published : May 13, 2017 - 10:50 Updated : May 14, 2017 - 09:54

The rate of South Korean women either working or actively searching for jobs reached a record high in 2017, data showed Saturday, thanks to a rising number of married women returned to the job market.

According to the data compiled by the Statistics Korea, 53 percent of women were found to be economically active this year, up 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier.

This year's number is the highest since the agency started compiling data from June 1999.

(Yonhap)

The figure refers to the portion of economically capable women who are currently working or searching for jobs.

Experts attributed the overall growth to the hike in the rate of employed women in their 30s, which was estimated at 59.6 percent, up 1.8 percentage points on-year.

"The record figure comes as women whose careers were discontinued after getting married return to the job market after entering their 30s," an official from the statistics agency said. (Yonhap)