Job-seeking benefits given to stabilize the lives of laid-off workers topped a total of 1 trillion won last month. Payouts exceeding 1 trillion won have continued for nine straight months since February, the longest stretch on record.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 10th in its Labor market trends based on employment administration statistics that job-seeking benefit payments in October came to 1.0492 trillion won, up 4.9% from a year earlier. The cumulative amount paid this year is 10.6795 trillion won.
However, the number of recipients itself fell 2% from a year earlier to 576,000. The ministry said the amount increased despite fewer recipients because of the long Chuseok holiday last month. Director Cheon Gyeong-gi of the MOEL Future Employment Analysis Division said, "Due to the holiday factor, there were cases where people received two payments in October, including job-seeking benefits that should have been received in early November," adding, "In November, job-seeking benefits are not expected to exceed 1 trillion won."
The number of regular subscribers to employment insurance, a barometer of employment conditions, was 15,687,000, up 1.3% (197,000) from a year earlier. The increase was led by health and welfare services and accommodation and food services.
However, in manufacturing and construction, considered "stable jobs," the decline continued, resulting in large disparities by industry. The number of manufacturing subscribers was 3,844,000, marking a fifth straight month of decline. The increase in automobiles slowed, while the decrease in fabricated metal and machinery equipment widened. Director Cheon said, "As exports in the automobile manufacturing industry have recently decreased and industrial production has slowed, some automobile manufacturing corporations in Busan and South Gyeongsang have adjusted employment." Due to the industry downturn, the number of construction subscribers was 747,000, a decline for 27 consecutive months.
Meanwhile, new job openings by corporations in October using the MOEL's integrated employment service platform Employment 24 totaled 142,000, down 19.2% from a year earlier. New job seekers on Employment 24 totaled 335,000 last month, down 6.6% from a year earlier. Due to the Chuseok holiday last month, the drop in job openings was larger than the decline in job seeking. Director Cheon said, "During the holidays, job seekers engage in job hunting intermittently, but hiring corporations effectively halt recruiting."
As a result, the job openings-to-applicants ratio, meaning the number of jobs per job seeker, was 0.42. This is lower than the same month a year earlier (0.49) and the smallest for the month since October 1998 (0.19).