SEOUL, March 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The outbreak of the COVID-19 led to a sharp increase in the number of unskilled laborers such as delivery workers and a decrease in the number of sales workers.
The number of unskilled laborers such as food delivery workers and building cleaners was about 4.1 million last year, up 3.1 percent from a year earlier and the highest since 2013, according to Statistics Korea.
Compared to the pre-COVID-19 year of 2019, this figure represented an increase of 14.5 percent, accounting for 52.9 percent of the growth of the overall number of workers during the period.
The increase is attributable to the sharp rise in the number of delivery workers resulting from the rapid growth of the food delivery market as the pandemic created strong demand for non-face-to-face services.
In contrast, the number of sales workers such as store salespersons and car salespeople declined by 11.5 percent during the pandemic period. This was the only job category that suffered a decline in the number of workers.
The number of jobs for such workers who directly contact consumers appears to be declining due to the stronger non-contact preference and a shift towards online sales channels.
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