Employment continues to grow in South Korea

The Ministry of Employment and Labour said the number of employees hired by local businesses grew 2.1% year-on-year in April.
By: | June 2, 2021
Topics: News | Recruitment | South Korea

As at end of April, there were 18.6 million people employed by companies, an increase of 379,000 from the same month last year. This increase is the biggest in 21 months, after the 396,000 seen in July 2019, the ministry said.  

Since March last year, employee numbers have been on the decline due to the pandemic. The country saw the first reversal to positive growth in March this year since the virus hit. 

The positive growth has been due to the recovery of some businesses following the relaxing of social distancing rules and the base effect from a sudden drop in employee numbers in April 2020. 
 
Temporary jobs rose 14% or 234,000, while for full-time jobs, the increase was 0.7% or 109,000. 

READ: South Korea’s proposed bill protects workers’ rights when companies split

By sector, health and social welfare services saw the largest rise of jobs at 131,000, followed by education services at 85,000, science and technology at 53,000 and information and communications at 51,000. 
 
However, the restaurant and hotel sectors reported a drop of 31,000 workers for the 15th consecutive month, according to Yonhap.