Coronavirus Decimates Jobs
29 April, 2020
The coronavirus epidemic has dealt a huge blow to employment in Korea, the latest statistics show.
The full total number of employees shrank by 225,000 on-year to 18.28 million in March, in line with the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Tuesday, the first on-year decline on record. The ministry attributed the decline to the lockdown, closure of schools and reduced economical activity amid the epidemic.
Some 171,000 more persons lost their jobs in March than found employment. The quantity of folks who lost jobs involuntarily including layoffs increased by 14.5 percent to 587,000, while those who left jobs temporarily or permanently on unpaid leave or for retirement and other reasons surged 78.1 percent to 116,000.
A man looks at employment bulletin board within an employment office in Seoul on April 22.
Jobs that involve direct contact with customers were hit hardest. The hospitality industry's employees dwindled by 153,000 persons or 12 percent, education services by 107,000 or 6.7 percent, and arts and sports by 39,000 or 11.9 percent.
By region, the hardest hit was coronavirus hotspot Daegu, where employment was down 4.2 percent, accompanied by Busan (down 2.3 percent), North Gyeongsang Province (down 1.9 percent) and Gangwon Province (down 1.9 percent).
Kwon Ki-sup, the top of employment policy at the ministry, said, "The employment shock due to the coronavirus epidemic is beginning to become clearly apparent, and the federal government believes the most crucial task is to ease it and survive from April to June."
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