South Korea’s jobless claims fall in January

South Korea’s jobless claims fell in January due to lower demand in the business services, health and welfare, and public administration industries, government data showed Monday.

The number of new applicants for job-seeking benefits stood at 186,000 in January, down 7.9 percent compared to the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

This marked the first decline in four months after increases of 12.4 percent in October, 2.2 percent in November, and 9.0 percent in December last year.

Job-seeking benefit applications decreased in the business services, health and welfare, and public administration sectors, while the number of applicants in the construction industry increased last month.

Job-seeking benefits, which make up the majority of unemployment benefits, are provided by the government to help unemployed individuals find jobs. They are financed by the state employment insurance fund.

The number of benefit recipients totalled 600,000 in January, down 2.3 percent from a year earlier.

The total amount of job-seeking benefits paid increased by 3.8 percent year-on-year to 974.7 billion won (670.1 million U.S. dollars).

RSS