A store in the shopping district of Myeongdong in central Seoul remains close on Jan. 12, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — An increasing number of self-employed and wage workers are working at least two jobs as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on.
Statistics Korea reported that among new recruits in December, 407,000 people had experience working at a second job.
Among them, 284,000 people were wage workers and 123,000 people were non-wage workers.
Among non-wage workers, 97,000 people were self-employed without staff, and 12,000 people were self-employed with staff.
While the data shows that the majority were ‘work-alone business owners’ working two jobs, some of them might have been in fact forced to lay off staff due to the prolonged economic downturn.
The number of self-employed business owners without any staff are increasing.
Statistics Korea reported in December that the number of self-employed jumped by 75,000 over the last 12 months.
Among wage workers with two jobs, 163,000 people were regular employees. Irregular workers came next (105,000 people), followed by daily workers (17,000 people).
Sorted by age group, a majority of 124,000 people were over 60 years of age, followed by those in their 50s (112,000 people).
Last year, online job portal Incruit conducted a survey of 1,599 men and women with prior experience seeking a part-time job, more than half of whom responded that they either had second jobs already or had the intention to work two jobs.
Of note, 47.4 percent of the self-employed said they had a second jobs because of dwindling income caused by pandemic.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
