SEOUL, April 15 (AJP) - South Korea's headline jobs market maintained resilience in March as the impact of the Gulf war remained peripheral for now, but data showed worsening conditions for youth, pointing to a structural job cliff for young people.
The number of employed people rose by 206,000 from a year earlier to 28.795 million, easing slightly from a 234,000 increase in February, according to data released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday.
The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 — the OECD-comparable benchmark — stood at 69.7 percent, up 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier, supported by strong gains among those aged 60 and older.
The younger cohort remained in the doldrums.
The employment rate for those aged 15 to 29 fell 0.9 percentage points year-on-year to 43.6 percent, while their unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage point to 7.6 percent.
The overall unemployment rate, in contrast, edged down 0.1 percentage point to 3.0 percent.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.
