More than 50,000 jobs disappeared from the nation’s financial sector this year in the aftermath of early retirement programs launched by banking firms as part of their restructuring programs, data showed Sunday.

According to Statistics Korea, the number of employees in the financial industry from January to November came to 789,000.

The figure is a reduction of 51,000 people from last year. The decrease is the biggest since 2009 when a global economic crisis claimed 55,000 jobs in the nation’s financial sector.

Financial officials said banks and other financial firms actively sought to streamline staff ahead of the nation’s planned extension of retirement age in workplaces next year.


koreaherald@heraldcorp.com