Falls in employment linked to higher suicide rate: study

A recent think tank study showed that the suicide rate in South Korea tends to go up as the employment rate falls with the effect stronger among women and the younger population.

The report by the state-run Korea Labor Institute analyzed the data of 16 major cities across the country between 2000 and 2021, comparing the suicide rates with both employment and unemployment rates. They found that suicide rates go down as employment rates go up, and rise proportionally to the unemployment rates.

In South Korea, unemployment rate excludes those defined as economically inactive -- such as those preparing to apply for jobs or state exams for government workers -- while the employment rate directly refers to the percentage of people who are working.

The study found that for every percentage point the employment rate of any given year dipped below the long-term trend line, the suicide rate went up 1.448 percent. The effect was most profound among people aged 20-39, at 1.748 percent, compared to 1.432 percent for the 40-64 age group and 1.008 percent for over-65s.

Overall employment rates used, rather than ones split by age and gender.

Although the increase in the suicide rate for those in the 40-64 group was generally lower, the figure for women in the group went up by 3.184 percent with the employment rate drop, higher than any other gender or age group.

The suicide rate for men in the 20-29 group went up 1.529 percent while the figure for women in the group went up 2.523 percent.

Researchers also found that a lower employment rate tends to have less of an impact on those with regular jobs -- a form of labor in South Korea which guarantees job security until the legal retirement age of 65 -- than people in non-regular jobs with less security.

"We've seen sharp increases in suicide rates of women in their 20s and 30s after the COVID-19 (outbreak). And we have raised the possibility that it is because the economic slump caused by COVID-19 has more effect on the services sector, which tends to employ people in that specific group," the researchers wrote.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the suicide rate for women in 2021 increased 1.4 percent compared to the year before, while the figure for 20-somethings rose by 8.5 percent.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)