Employment insurance funds paid more than 7 trillion won this year to support unemployed workers.

According to the `` Main Characteristics of the Labor Market in November, '' which the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 9th, according to the employment administration statistics, last month's job benefit payments reached 592.2 billion won, 14.2% higher than the same month last year (5151 billion won).

The cumulative payments for job search benefits for January to November of this year totaled 7.448 trillion won.

If there is no big change in the trend, the total for next month's payments is expected to exceed 8 trillion won this year.

This is the first time I have paid over $ 8 trillion in benefits.

This year's job search budget was originally set at KRW 7.18 trillion, but the Ministry of Labor added more than KRW 371.4 billion in August through an additional budget.

However, when job benefits were expected to increase rapidly, the Ministry of Labor increased the job search benefit budget by KRW 789.9 billion in September and November.

The government's explanation is that the sharp increase in job search benefits is the result of a stronger employment safety net.

The number of people eligible for job search benefits has increased as the current government has expanded its coverage for employment insurance.

Increasing the upper and lower limits to strengthen the livelihood security of job search benefits also led to an increase in payments.

Although some interpret the increase in job-payment benefits as a result of the hike, it is the government's position that it is difficult to see.

The government sees a steady improvement in employment this year.
Last month, 86,000 new job applicants were up 7.5% from the same month last year (80,000).

Job search benefits were 412,000, an increase of 7.3%.

The average amount of benefit benefits per person was 14.3999 won.

Last month, the number of Employment Insurance subscribers stood at 14.39 million, an increase of 477,000 (3.5%) from the same month last year (13,348,000).

By age group, the total number of older workers aged 60 or older increased by 213,000, the highest growth rate (14.5%).

The number of subscribers aged 60 and over increased significantly in health welfare (67,000), manufacturing (21,000), and public administration (21,000).

The main characteristic of the labor market announced monthly by the Ministry of Labor is based on administrative statistics such as employment insurance, which excludes self-employed workers who do not have employment insurance, workers under 15 hours per week, and public officials.

(Photo = Yonhap News)