Jobless Rate Will Hit All Time High Next Year

The unemployment rate will reach an all time high of 8.8% in the first quarter of next year; but the third quarter of next year the rate should decrease with an improved employment situation, the Korea Labor Research Institute (KLRI), the research arm of the Ministry of Labor, forecasted.
KLRI estimated in a report released on October 18 that even though the economy next year will recover a little with a 2% growth rate, the jobless rate next year will rise compared to this year and record 8.8% in the first quarter.
The 8.8% unemployment rate is 0.4% points higher than the previous all time high of 8.4% recorded in the fourth quarter of 1966.
KLRI, however, forecasted that the jobless rate will fall to 7.3% after the third quarter next year if the government implements active measures to ease unemployment.
Accordingly, the KLRI estimated that the unemployment rate next year would average 7.8%, 0.8% points higher than an estimated 7.0% this year.