SEOUL, June 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment rose for the fifth consecutive month due to an expansion in elderly jobs, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of employed people aged 15 and older gained 245,000, or 0.8 percent, over the year to 29,160,000 in May, keeping an upward trend since January, according to Statistics Korea.
The overall job growth was driven by the elderly. The number of jobs for those aged 60 and older expanded 370,000 in May on a yearly basis, and the figure for those in their 30s grew 132,000.
Employment among those aged 15-29 dived 150,000, while jobs for those in their 40s and 50s reduced 39,000 and 68,000 each.
Employment among manufacturers tumbled 67,000 in May compared with the same month of last year, keeping a downward trend for the 11th successive month.
Jobs lost in the construction industry reached 106,000, continuing to go down for the 13th straight month.
The number of jobs in the health and social welfare service, the science and technology service, and the insurance and finance sectors picked up 233,000, 117,000 and 72,000 each.
The number of regular and irregular employees mounted 362,000 and 25,000 each, but the reading for daily laborers decreased 59,000 last month.
The number of the self-employed who hired employees shrank 11,000, and the figure for the self-employed without workers declined 12,000.
Employment rate for those aged 15 and older increased 0.3 percentage points to 63.8 percent in May on a yearly basis, while the OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 added 0.5 percentage points to 70.5 percent.
The number of unemployed people was 853,000 in May, down 32,000 from a year earlier. Unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 2.8 percent.
The expanded jobless rate slipped 0.3 percentage points to 8.8 percent in the cited month, while the corresponding rate for those aged 15-29 retreated 0.2 percentage points to 16.3 percent.
The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but failed to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts to seek a job actively.
The expanded jobless rate, called labor underutilization indicator, adds those who are discouraged from searching for a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time, and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation, to the official unemployment rate.
The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, slid 22,000 from a year earlier to 15,722,000 in May.
The reading for discouraged job seekers dwindled 19,000 to 345,000 last month.
The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, went up 56,000 to 2,390,000 in the same month.
The take-a-rest group is considered important as it can include those who are too discouraged to seek a job for an extended period. ■
