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Roundup: S. Korea posts highest jobless rate among youths in 2015

Xinhua, January 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korea posted the highest jobless rate among youths of 9.2 percent last year as companies refrained from employing college graduates on concerns about economic slump, a government report showed Wednesday.

The unemployment rate among youths aged 15 to 29 reached 9.2 percent in 2015, up 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.

It actually marked the highest level in history as standards for calculating the figure was changed in 1999.

A number of college graduates remained unemployed as companies refrained from employing youths amid the economic slowdown.

The number of economically active population among youths increased 80,000 last year, but the number of youth employment increased 68,000 in 2015.

It indicated youths actively seeking jobs amid lack of opening for young job seekers.

The country's job growth posted the lowest in five years, with the unemployment rate for all population logging the lowest in five years.

The number of those employed totaled 25,936,000 in 2015, up 337,000 from a year earlier, marking the lowest increase since 2010.

The yearly job growth increased from 415,000 in 2011 to 538,000 in 2014, before dipping to 337,000 in 2015. The overall jobless rate was 3.6 percent in 2015, the lowest since 2010 when it recorded 3.7 percent. The jobless rate measures the percentage of those unemployed who actively sought jobs in the past four weeks to the sum of people employed and unemployed.

The employment rate came in at 60.3 percent in 2015, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous year. The hiring rate kept an upward trend for six straight years. The employment rate gauges the percentage of working people to the working age population, or those aged 15 or above. It is used as an alternative to the jobless rate, and the government targeted 70 percent over the long run.

Employment among those aged 15 to 29 increased 68,000 in 2015, but the figure for those in their 50s and those aged 60 or more jumped 149,000 and 172,000 respectively. Job growth for those in their 30s and 40s reduced 38,000 and 14,000 each.

Manufacturers employed 156,000 last year, with restaurant and food companies hiring 82,000 people in 2015. However, job growth in the agricultural sector reduced 107,000 last year. Enditem