Record number of people give up on job seeking: data

A record-high number of job-seekers have given up on finding a job, amid a feeble employment market and slowing economic growth, government data showed Sunday.

The monthly average number of “discouraged job-seekers” -- referring to those with no signs of job seeking for at least four weeks over the past year -- stood at 510,000 as of end-August, up 5.4 percent from the same period last year, according to Statistics Korea. This was also the highest figure since the government started collecting data in 2014.

 

Also, the number of long-term unemployed has been on a steady rise over the past year, indicating a prolonged slump in the job market here.

Those who have been out of job for six months or longer stood at 149,000 in monthly average as of end-August, up 6 percent from a year earlier and the highest since statistics started in June 1999, when the nation was still reeling from the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)