Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
By Lee Kyung-min
The employment situation for middle-aged breadwinners is deteriorating as people in their 40s kept losing their jobs in December 2019, despite a "recovery" in the overall job market, data showed Wednesday.
Statistics Korea reported that the country added 516,000 jobs in December, the highest number since August 2014 when the economy added 670,000.
The number of jobs in all other age groups increased in December but those in their 40s, mostly family breadwinners, saw 128,000 jobs disappear.
The loss was offset by the 479,000 jobs added for those in their 60s and older, followed by 94,000 for 50-somethings, and 69,000 for young people aged between 15 and 29, but a mere 2,000 for the 30-somethings.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance said the job market is showing gradual yet firm signs of recovery, but experts refuted such optimism saying that only part-time or poor quality jobs are being created for those aged over 60.
Sung Tae-yoon, an economist at Yonsei University, said the job market is hardly on a recovery track.
"What the government is eager to call jobs are merely a couple of hours of time-killing activities at best. Most of the added jobs are held by those aged over 60 and the quality of the jobs is indisputably awful."
Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said that the government will unveil a comprehensive plan for jobless people in their 40s in March at the earliest.
He said that the government was considering offering temporary living expenses, job training and help in opening new businesses.
"The government will focus on helping the recovery trend continue this year," Hong said, shortly after the statistics agency released the data.
On a yearly basis, 162,000 jobs were lost among the 40-somethings, the fifth consecutive year of decline and the largest fall in employment in 18 years since 1991.
By industry, 15,000 jobs disappeared in the manufacturing sector, the backbone of the economy, while 94,000 jobs were lost in the wholesale and retail sectors, the traditional job producers supporting the country's middle class.
Some 30,000 jobs were lost in the financial and insurance industries for those in their 40s, following what is believed to be layoffs of contract workers whose work involved landing new customers or subscribers for new products.
Construction lost 28,000 jobs amid an industry-wide slowdown, while information and telecommunications lost 27,000 jobs.
Healthcare and social services added 178,000 jobs, thanks mostly to government job creation initiatives.
On an annual basis, the economy added 301,000 jobs in 2019, compared to a year earlier.
In total, the manufacturing sector lost 81,000 jobs last year, the largest setback since 2013 when the statistics agency began compiling related data, due to flagging exports brought on by global uncertainties.
Backed by the government's financial support, healthcare and social services added 160,000 jobs.
The employment rate for those aged 15 and over stood at 60.9 percent, the highest since 1997, while that for those aged between 15 and 64 was 66.8 percent, the highest since 1989 when the authorities began compiling the appropriate data.
