Unemployment Rate Declined Due to Seasonal Work

The unemployment rate dropped to 7.2 percent due to increased hiring in the farming and construction sectors.
However, almost all of the created jobs had periods of employment for less than one month while long-term employment continued to decline.
According to the 'Employment Trends in April', released by the National Statistical Office(NSO) on May 20, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.9 percentage points to 7.2 percent from 8.1 percent in March. The number of jobless persons now stands at 1.55 million, 154 thousand, or 9.0 percent, less than those of the previous month.
This figure almost arrives at the government's second-half target of 1.5 million.
The number of employed workers as of April stood at 20 million, jumping by 566,000(2.9 percent) from last month.
Contrary to the glowing figures, the overall structure of employment has worsened owing to the decrease of permanent jobs.
Daily workers jumped by 175,000 to 2.28 million, and temporary laborors, those who have less than one-year contracts, increased by 80,000 to 4.12 million. Long-term positions decreased by 43,000 to 5.92 million.
Classifying by industry, 420,000 workers increased in the farming and fishery sectors while the construction sector gained 85,000 persons.
The head of the Population and Social Statistics Bureau, Kim Min Kyoung, said, 'The decrease of unemployment is mainly due to the seasonal effect, more workers are needed in agriculture and construction. Without this effect, the rate would be similar to the previous month.'

Jooan Kang : jooan@joongang.co.kr