Job-seeking benefits (unemployment benefits) have exceeded 1 trillion won in payouts for eight consecutive months. The cumulative payout this year is nearing 10 trillion won. Job-seeking benefits are amounts the government provides to help maintain livelihoods while looking for a new job when people leave a company involuntarily, such as through dismissal or contract expiration.
According to the "September labor market trends based on employment administration statistics" released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 15th, last month's job-seeking benefit payout was 1.0673 trillion won, up 10.9% (104.8 billion won) from a year earlier.
Monthly job-seeking benefit payouts exceeding 1 trillion won have continued for eight months since February this year. In the past, there were seven consecutive months above 1 trillion won from February to August 2021, but this time the longest record was broken. The cumulative payout this year is 9.6303 trillion won.
Cheon Gyeong-gi, head of the ministry's Future Employment Analysis Division, said it was "because the number of insured persons has increased and the per-capita payout amount for job-seeking benefits keeps rising."
New applicants for job-seeking benefits also increased. The number of applicants last month was 89,000, up 8,000 (10%) from a year earlier. Compared with a year earlier, new applicants had been declining since Jun. but turned to an increase after three months. The total number of job-seeking benefit recipients was 625,000, up 24,000 (4%) from a year earlier.
The job search situation is also worsening. New job openings through the Ministry's integrated employment service platform "Employment24" in September were 165,000, down 6,000 (3.5%) from the same month last year, while new job seekers last month numbered 378,000, up 37,000 (10.8%). The job-offer ratio, meaning the number of jobs per job seeker, was 0.44. As of Sep., this is the lowest in 21 years since 2004 (0.43).
However, Director Cheon said, "The decline in corporations' job openings is easing," adding, "There is a positive aspect in terms of opportunities to work."
As of the end of September, there were 15,641,000 regular subscribers to employment insurance. This is an increase of 191,000 (1.2%) compared with a year earlier. Service industry subscribers increased by 219,000, but manufacturing and construction subscribers decreased by 11,000 and 18,000, respectively.