Tough Job Market

[Anchor Lead]

The employment situation in the country is not good. The number of employed people in June rose by a little over 100-thousand from a year ago. The execution of the government’s budget allotted for job creation has not been carried out as swiftly as expected.

[Pkg]

The number of employed people last month grew by 106-thousand, from a year ago. The on-year growth has remained at around the 100-thousand range for 5 straight months since February. The average on-year growth for this year's first half stands at 142-thousand, the lowest since the 2009 global financial crisis. Employment figures in manufacturing and educational services have particularly dropped. Sluggish hires appear to be due to a decrease in the working age population and the economic recession. The government even drew up a supplementary budget this year solely aimed at increasing jobs. But the execution of the funds is not taking place as swiftly as anticipated. Some 820 billion won of what's known as the job stabilization fund has been spent so far at a 30% execution rate. This fund was designed to help ease the burden from the minimum wage hike. The extra budget drafted in May included 150 billion won for monetary assistance to companies that hired young workers. But only about 14-thousand people have benefited so far, compared to the government target of 90-thousand beneficiaries. The budget execution rate stands at a meager 6.4%. Central and provincial governments are quickening efforts to execute job-related budgets but it's expected to take considerable time for the measures to produce tangible effects.