SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The number of the self-employed people without hiring employees in South Korea hit a 15-year high this year, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
There were 4,370,000 self-employed people without hiring workers in August, up by 34,000 from the same month of last year, according to Statistics Korea. The figure marked the highest since 2008.
More self-employed people decided not to employ workers amid the growing economic uncertainty.
The number of the self-employed people who hired employees, gained 59,000 to 1,413,000 in the cited month.
The number of non-wage workers, including the self-employed and those who serve family-run businesses without pay, increased 38,000 from a year earlier to 6,724,000 in August.
The non-wage workers accounted for 23.4 percent of the total employed people in the country.
Male non-wage workers declined by 4,000 to 4,145,000 in the month, while female ones expanded by 42,000 to 2,579,000.
Of the total non-wage workers, those in their 60s and older took up the highest share of 38.8 percent, followed by those in their 50s with 27.0 percent and those in their 40s with 19.0 percent.
The highest share of 22.9 percent engaged in the agriculture, livestock and fishery industry, trailed by the wholesale and retail sector with 16.8 percent and the lodging and eatery sector with 13.0 percent. ■
