Sluggish Job Market

[Anchor Lead]

The job market appears to be losing momentum. The rate of employed people posted its smallest gain in four years last month while youth unemployment is at its highest since 1999.

[Pkg]

The increase in the number of employed Koreans fell to the 200-thousand range for the first time in 7 months. In August, 212-thousand more people were employed compared to the same month last year, which is the smallest increase in four and a half years. Employment growth slowed down in manufacturing and service industries while the actual number of the employed decreased in accommodations, food and transport sectors. Most of all, employment has significantly slowed in construction. Construction added over 100-thousand new jobs every month for six months straight but the increase was just 30-thousand last month.

[Soundbite] Bin Hyeon-jun(Statistics Korea) : "There were at least 6 rainy days during the survey period and there is a chance that may have negatively affected the results from the day to day jobs as well as the construction sector."

The bigger problem is in the trend. Employment growth surpassed 400-thousand in March and April. The figure then fell to the 300-thousand range and now to the 200-thousand range. Diminished vitality in the job market is also confirmed by the youth unemployment rate. Last month, youth unemployment recorded 9.4%, the highest since August 1999, which was amid the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

[Soundbite] Jo Yeong-moo(LG Economic Research Institute) : "Aggressive measures are necessary to induce the private sector to produce more quality jobs which in turn can lead to income growth for households."

The government intends to revive employment figures through the execution of a supplementary budget but pundits call for policy measures aimed at encouraging companies to increase hires.