Fiscal input – short-term jobs continue to grow
Point out that “the quality of employment should also be improved”
The number of employed people in April this year increased by more than 800,000 compared to the same period last year, the largest increase in 22 years. About half of the new jobs were ‘old jobs’ for those aged 60 and over. Contrary to the overall boom in the job market, the number of employed people decreased in self-employed businesses such as lodgings and restaurants.
According to the employment trends for April announced by the National Statistical Office on the 11th, the number of employed people last month was 28.078,000, an increase of 865,000 from the same period last year. The increase was the largest for the same month since April 2000.
Looking at the indicators alone, the overall job market is analyzed to be strong. However, more than half of the newly employed people were aged 60 and over. The increase in the number of employed persons was 424,000 people aged 60 and over. On the other hand, there were 186,000 young people (15-29 years old), 33,000 people in their 30s, 15,000 people in their 40s, and 208,000 people in their 50s.
In addition, some point out that the quality of employment needs to be improved as the growth of jobs directly employed by the government and short-term jobs of less than 17 hours is still on the rise. The number of daily workers decreased by 117,000 compared to the previous year, but the number of part-time workers increased by 83,000. The number of full-time workers of 36 hours or longer classified as high-quality jobs increased by 709,000.
By industry, the health and social welfare sectors saw the largest increase, with an increase of 230,000. The largest increase was followed by manufacturing (132,000 people) and public administration (91,000 people). The increase in the number of employed people in health and social welfare and public administration, where a lot of money is invested, accounted for 37.0% of the total increase. This means that the government has invested money to create jobs.
Self-employed employment, which has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), has not improved. The wholesale/retail industry decreased by 11,000 and the lodging and restaurant industry by 27,000 from a year ago.
Sejong = Reporter Kim Hyung-min kalssam35@donga.com