Jobless subsidy subscribers reach monthly record in March in Korea

[Photo by Lee Chung-woo]

A record number of South Koreans took out job search subsidy from the government last month as the country¡¯s job market continues to suffer from the prolonged virus fallout.

The government doled out 1.18 trillion won ($1.05 billion) in jobless allowances in March, falling slightly below an all-time-high record of 1.19 trillion won set in July 2020, according to the data released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Monday.

The number of recipients reached a new high of 759,000, surpassing the previous record of 731,000 in July last year.

Job search allowance is a type of unemployment benefits paid out by the government to support those who lose employment insurance benefits due to loss of job. Those who are not covered by state-run employment insurance including self-employed and freelancers are not entitled to the benefits.

The number of new applicants declined 4.5 percent from the same month a year ago to 149,000.

The number of people covered by the employment insurance reached 14.08 million in March, up 322,000 or 2.3 percent from a year earlier.

The service industry added 266,000 or 2.8 percent of workers subscribed to the state insurance to 9.6 million last month.

The number for the healthcare and welfare industry including state-provided jobs increased 110,000. The hospitality and restaurant industry, one of the hardest-hit sectors by the virus outbreak, lost 35,000 workers, but the drop has slowed down compared to the previous month.

The ministry said the service sector could add more insurance-covered employees due to the rising demand for online service and boosted consumer confidence by Covid-19 vaccination rollout since the end of February.

The number of workers holding the coverage in the manufacturing industry, the backbone of the Korean economy, grew 0.9 percent to 32,000, extending its gaining momentum for two consecutive months.

By age, the number of state-insured workers aged under 29 grew 30,000, snapping its losing streak for the past three months. The number increased for all age groups except for those in their 30s that lost 27,000, but the losing pace has slowed down, according to the data.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]