This photo shows job seekers looking at employment information at a job fair in Seoul on Aug. 21, 2023. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The employment of wage workers in South Korea grew at a slow pace in the first quarter of 2023 amid an economic slowdown, and two out of three newly added jobs were for senior citizens, data showed Friday.
The number of paid employee jobs came to 20.21 million in the January-March period, up 457,000 from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
It is the lowest increase since the fourth quarter of 2021 when the country added 376,000 jobs from a year earlier.
The country has seen slower on-year employment growth for four quarters in a row since the second quarter of 2022.
By age, 305,000 jobs were added for people in their 60s or older, the highest increase among all age groups.
Some 141,000 new jobs added in the first quarter were for people in their 50s, followed by 38,000 and 35,000 jobs for people in their 30s and 40s, respectively.
But the number of jobs for salaried workers in their 20s fell by 61,000, marking the second consecutive on-year fall.
By sector, the construction sector had 92,000 more jobs in the three-month period, and the health and social welfare segment added 87,000 jobs. The manufacturing sector also gained 54,000 more jobs in the first quarter, the data showed.
(Yonhap)
