SEOUL, March 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's jobless claims turned downward last month due to weak demand in the construction and manufacturing industries, government data showed Monday.
The number of new applicants for job-seeking benefits dipped 30,100, or 25.8 percent, from a year earlier to 87,000 in February, after expanding 14,800 in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
The benefit applicants mainly shrank in the construction, the manufacturing, the business service, and the wholesale and retail sectors.
The government offers job-seeking benefits to help the unemployed find work, accounting for the majority of unemployment benefits. It is financed by the state employment insurance fund.
The number of benefit recipients totaled 634,000 in February, down 5.2 percent from a year earlier.
The total payment of job-seeking benefits dropped 11.6 percent to 948.0 billion won (about 633.4 million U.S. dollars) in the cited month. ■
