[News Focus] Female 20-somethings hit hard by pandemic

SEJONG -- Women outnumbered and outpaced men in growth as recipients of unemployment benefits over the past year, when COVID-19 dealt a severe blow to the nation.

According to the Korea Employment Information Service, the tally for female recipients of unemployment benefits came to 307,178 in December 2020, up 44.3 percent from 212,780, posted a year earlier.

This outstripped the number of male recipients, 299,048, and on-year growth of 40.6 percent over the corresponding period.

The agency’s data also showed that the tally grew most sharply among women in their 20s. The number of recipients aged between 20-29 increased by 66.3 percent from 34,163 in December 2019 to 56,839 in December 2020.
 

A labor researcher in Seoul said that it is estimated that young nonregular workers -- including those working at convenience stores or coffee shops -- suffered en masse layoffs from the pandemic, or businesses had to initially dismiss workers with relatively low vocational skills.

Women under 20 were next with a 58.6 percent growth, followed by those aged 70 or over with 57.6 percent and those in their 60s with 53.8 percent.

The growth for women in their 30s, 40s and 50s ranged between 34 percent and 39 percent. But the three age groups outstripped the others in the tally.

Women in their 50s topped the list with 77,192 recipients, followed by those in their 30s, with 60,360 recipients and those in their 40s, with 58,984 recipients.

In Korea, female workers in their 50s make up a dominant portion of employees at large discount chains and small and mid-sized restaurants. The COVID-19 situation has brought about an increase of more than 20,000 female recipients in the age group, from 55,623 in December 2019.

Of the total payout amount to the female jobless worth 481.5 billion won ($430.8 million), women in their 50s took up 25.1 percent, or 120.9 billion won.

Payments to women in their 30s were the next at 97.3 billion won, followed by those in their 40s at 92.1 billion won, those in their 20s at 89.4 billion won and those in their 60s at 79.7 billion won.

According to the data from Statistics Korea, the number of female discouraged workers -- who have abandoned looking for jobs reached 323,000 in December 2020.

This marked a surge by 40.4 percent, 93,000 people, from 230,000 in December 2019.

Compared to three years earlier in December 2017 -- the first year of the Moon Jae-in administration -- when the figure stayed at 191,000, the growth in the number of female discouraged workers climbed by 69.1 percent.

The tally counts people who did not carry out jobseeking activities during the past four weeks or longer, though they had looked for jobs within the past 12 months.

Though women outstripped men in the tallies for both unemployment recipients and discouraged workers, the pandemic also dealt a severe blow to men across all age groups.

The number of male discouraged workers rose by 32.2 percent from 304,000 to 402,000 over the same one-year period.

Unlike women, men in their 60s made up the largest portion in the number of recipients of unemployment benefits, with 78,668 of the total 307,178 men.

Men in their 50s were the next with 76,110, trailed by those in their 40s with 54,804, those in their 30s with 49,194 and those in their 20s with 36,545.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)