S.Korea's employment keeps growing for 14 months in April

South Korea's employment kept growing for the 14th consecutive month in April, logging the fastest April increase in 22 years, statistical office data showed Wednesday.

The number of those employed totaled 28,078,000 in April, up by 865,000 from the same month of last year, according to Statistics Korea.

It was the fastest April increase in 22 years since 2000. The year-over-year employment growth shrank from 1,135,000 people in January to 1,037,000 in February and 831,000 in March, but it slightly rebounded last month.

Jobs continued to rise for 14 straight months on the back of the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employment in the health and social welfare sector expanded by 230,000 people in April on a yearly basis, and the reading in the public administration increased by 91,000.

Helped by solid export, the number of jobs among manufacturers soared by 132,000 in the month, marking the highest gain in over six years since November 2015.

The number of jobs lost in the wholesale and retail, and the lodging and eatery sectors stood at 11,000 and 27,000 respectively amid the continued negative effect of the pandemic.

Employment grew in all age groups. The number of jobs among those aged 60 or higher jumped by 424,000, and the number for those in their 50s and 20s rose 208,000 and 191,000 respectively.

The number of regular and irregular employees grew by 929,000 and 48,000 respectively, but the figure for daily laborers slumped by 117,000 last month.

The number of the self-employed who hired workers was up by 39,000 in April, and the reading for the self-employed without employees added 20,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 or higher gained 1.7 percentage points over the year to 62.1 percent in April, and the hiring rate for those aged 15-64 went up by 2.2 percentage points to 68.4 percent.

The number of those unemployed came to 864,000 in April, down by 283,000 from a year earlier. The jobless rate declined by 1.0 percentage point to 3.0 percent last month.

The expanded jobless rate retreated by 2.9 percentage points to 10.9 percent last month, and the rate for those aged 15 to 29 dropped by 5.2 percentage points to 19.9 percent.

The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but failed to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts to seek a job actively.

The expanded jobless rate adds those who are discouraged from searching for a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time, and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation, to the official jobless rate.

The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, went down by 376,000 from a year earlier to 16,291,000 in April. It kept a downward trend for 14 months in a row.

The reading for discouraged job seekers diminished by 205,000 over the year to 431,000 in April.

The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, shed 152,000 to 2,219,000 in the cited month.

The take-a-rest group is considered important as it can include those who are too discouraged to seek a job for an extended period.