SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment growth hit the highest in 22 years last year due to eased measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, statistical office data showed on Wednesday.
The number of those being employed was 28,089,000 in 2022, up 816,000 from the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the highest since 2000.
The number of jobs diminished 218,000 in 2020 amid the pandemic outbreak, before growing 369,000 in 2021. Last year's rapid increase in employment was attributable to the alleviated anti-virus measures.
The number of jobs among manufacturers rose 135,000 in 2022, the first rebound in seven years.
Employment in the lodging and eatery sector gained 84,000 last year to turn around in three years, and the readings in the health and social welfare services and the information and communication sectors added 180,000 and 80,000 each.
The number of jobs lost in the wholesale and retail and the finance and insurance segments came in at 41,000 and 26,000 respectively.
The overall job increase was led by the elderly people. The number of jobs among those aged 60 or higher surged 452,000 last year, while those in their 50s and 20s climbed 196,000 and 112,000 respectively.
The number of regular and irregular employees expanded 805,000 and 43,000 each, but the figure for daily laborers dwindled 100,000 last year.
The number of the self-employed who hired workers increased 58,000, and the figure for the self-employed without employees grew 61,000.
Employment rate for those aged 15 or higher rose 1.6 percentage points to 62.1 percent in 2022, hitting the highest since relevant data began to be compiled in 1963.
The OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 went up 2.0 percentage points to a record high of 68.5 percent.
The number of those unemployed stood at 833,000 in 2022, down 205,000 from the prior year. Jobless rate dipped 0.8 percentage points to 2.9 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 economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, went down 432,000 over the year to 16,339,000 in 2022.
The reading for discouraged job seekers diminished 185,000 to 443,000 last year.
The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, shrank 121,000 to 2,277,000.
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.
In December 2022, the number of jobs grew 509,000 compared to the same month of 2021.
The number of those unemployed reduced 113,000 from a year earlier to 866,000 in December last year, while unemployment rate slipped 0.5 percentage points to 3.0 percent. ■