More women and older workers are taking up irregular jobs in South Korea, showing that the “socially weaker” group remains less protected in the employment market, a report showed Sunday.

Of all irregular workers, 53.8 percent were women as of March this year, a 5.2 percentage point rise from 48.6 percent in 2007, the Korea Employment Information Service said.

The percentage of women holding regular jobs, meanwhile, declined to 37.7 percent from 38.4 percent during the same period.

The ratio of male irregular workers, on the other hand, lowered to 46.2 percent from 51.4 percent.

Observers said such a trend may reflect how men remain prioritized in the government-led efforts to reduce irregular jobs.

The rate of irregular workers aged 65 or older also showed a rapid surge, the report said. While 18.9 percent of the irregular workers were 65 or older in 2007, the ratio soared by 8.4 percentage points to 27.3 percent this year.

Consequently, fewer youths took up irregular jobs with 19.4 percent of them from the youngest age group.

The ratio of middle-aged workers holding regular jobs, meanwhile, showed a consistent rise to 70.0 percent this year from 67.5 percent in 2007.

By education level, more workers that received higher education were seen to tap into the irregular job market, with 20.3 percent of them being four-year college graduates this year from 19.7 percent in 2007, and 11.4 percent being two-year college graduates compared to 11.0 percent six years ago. The number of high-school graduates dropped from 69.3 percent in 2007 to 68.3 percent this year.

“We need more active employment policies for the neglected groups such as women and the older generation, who were shown to be more structurally prone to remain irregular workers,” the KEIS said.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)