The increase rate was higher among women, with the figure surging by 70.5 percent from 204,000 to 348,000 during the February 2016 to February 2021 period. The tally for male discouraged workers grew 49 percent. “The figure and other relevant figures indicate that the novel coronavirus dealt the hardest blow to women in their 20s in terms of employment,” said a Seoul-based labor researcher. It ...

The debt held by the household sector surged by 18.9 percent in only three years from 1,450.6 trillion won in December 2017 -- or by 59 percent from 1,085.2 trillion won in December 2014 and 88.4 percent from 916.1 trillion won in December 2011. The benchmark rate has stayed under 2 percent -- ranging between 0.5 percent and 1.75 percent per annum -- during the Moon Jae-in administration that be...

SEJONG -- Short selling, which is under a provisional ban in South Korea, has been a core issue in the local financial market since the novel coronavirus initially hit the nation 14 months ago. Short selling is a trading strategy in which investors are entitled to sell “borrowed” stocks at particular prices. They can reap gains by repurchasing the stocks -- which is dubbed “short covering” -- at...

This means nearly 2 in 5 Korean households were single-person households as of last month. “The tally for Koreans living alone is increasing rapidly, as is the number of young couples without children,” said a demographer. He said the growing portion of single-person households can also be attributed to a surge in the number of female seniors in the wake of their longer life span than men. “Ko...

Neither career path tends to rank high on the wish lists of native-born South Koreans, particularly those in their 20s and 30s. The third- and fourth-most-popular career choices for defectors were at state-funded agencies, with 21.2 percent of respondents picking this option; and at conglomerates, selected by 8.7 percent of respondents. Careers with state-funded agencies and conglomerates are th...

The portion, anyway, has been in a declining trend among a large portion of OECD members. While only seven of the 36 countries posted positive growth, 29 countries saw the percentage of part-timers among female workers slide over the corresponding 2014-2019 period. Luxembourg recorded the biggest drop, by 7.5 percentage points from 27.7 percent to 20.2 percent. Turkey saw the second-biggest dro...

A futures trading analyst in Seoul said monetary policymakers should intervene in the market, if necessary, to block further weakness of the local currency. “A cheap won is not always beneficial to local exporters. If the dollar prices reach 1,250 won, export-driven businesses should also bear huge cost burden from price hikes in imported manufacturing parts,” he said. The strong greenback is a...

Like Jeju Island, the proportion of the self-employed, such as retailers and owners of private educational institutes, is relatively high in the administrative city of Sejong. Incheon was third on the list at 19.5 percent, followed by Seoul with 19 percent and Gyeonggi Province with 18.6 percent. It is estimated that the COVID-19 situation has dealt a severe blow to many salaried workers in the...

The ranking comes despite efforts to help the country move to a lower spot on the list in recent years. Since 2017, the Moon Jae-in administration has been introducing the 52-hour workweek guideline on a gradual basis by payroll scale from the former 68-hour workweek. As a side effect, however, local small businesses have protested the move, saying that the revised Labor Standards Act “is aggrav...

Extending the age range downward, 60.6 percent of the farm population were aged 60 or over in 2019. With less than 40 percent in proportion for those under 60, a serious shortage of workers looms for the agricultural sector in the coming years and decades. By age group -- from those aged 0-4 to those aged 80 or over -- those aged 60-64 topped the list at 314,191, followed by those aged 65-69 at ...

Daegu ranked second with minus 1,412, followed by Ulsan with minus 1,212, South Gyeongsang Province with minus 1,088, Busan with minus 987, Daejeon with minus 733, North Jeolla Province with minus 630 and Gwangju with minus 598. The next rankers were Gangwon Province with minus 541, Incheon with minus 394, North Chungcheong Province with minus 306, South Jeolla Province with minus 243, North Gye...

While local economists say the shrinking percentage of those aged 15-64 would have a negative effect of scaling back the growth of gross domestic product, official demographic estimates are aggravating the worries. Data held by Statistics Korea forecasts that the proportion of the working age population will fall below 70 percent to 69.9 percent by 2024. The state-run agency also predicts that ...

In a similar vein, online transactions for groceries, water and beverages showed a noteworthy increase to hit 2 trillion won in December 2020. This contrasted with 1.2 trillion won for the segment in December 2019, 925.6 billion won in December 2018 and 709.6 billion won in December 2017. Data also showed historic growth in the online sales of food delivery or takeout services (109 percent grow...

The countries whose household debt levels were curbed include the UK with minus 3.34 percentage points, Spain with minus 9.36, Portugal with minus 11.75, Greece with minus 12.84, the Netherlands with minus 15.22 and Ireland with minus 34.69. Only Finland held a figure higher than that of Korea, as it posted a 16.56 percentage point increase in the ratio of debt-to-disposable income of the househ...

According to the OECD and Statistics Korea, the nation is projected to rank sixth, alongside Iceland, in 2040 by overtaking three countries over the next two decades. Korean newborns are expected to see their life expectancy reach 85.5 years in 2040, when the figures for Israel, France and Norway are expected to be 85.4, 85.1 and 84.9, respectively. After exceeding 86 years in 2045, the figure ...