<Anchor> Although
social distancing is easing and export conditions are improving, the pace of improvement in the job market is slow.
Last month, the number of employed people decreased by more than 420,000 from a year ago, and the number of those who gave up job hunting was the highest ever.
This is Hwa Kang-yoon reporter.
<Reporter>
According to a survey by the National Statistical Office, the number of employed people last month decreased by 421,000 from a year ago.
The decline has been continuing for the eighth month, but the decline has expanded even more than in September.
In the face-to-face service sector, the decline in employment remains prominent.
The number of employed decreased by more than 200,000 in the lodging and restaurant business, 180,000 in the wholesale and retail business, and more than 100,000 in the education service business.
Although exports are showing a recovery trend, the number of employed by nearly 100,000 people has still declined in the manufacturing industry.
[Dong-myeong Jeong/Director of Social Statistics: There is a continuing decline in the number of employed in the automobile and trailer manufacturing industries, or in the metal and processed product manufacturing industries.
.] The
employment rate over the age of 15 was 60.4%, a 1.3 percentage point decrease from a year ago, the lowest in eight years as of October.
Although they have the ability to work and willing to find a job, the number of job seekers who are not currently looking for a job has increased to over 110,000 to 617,000, the highest since the statistics were written in October.
Although social distancing has eased last month, the government believes that the decline in the number of employed has increased as the employment market has been slowly reflecting the economic situation.
However, he explained that the number of employed, removing seasonal factors, increased by 54,000 from September.