Economics
Korea Unemployment at 21-Year High as a Million Jobs Lost
- January jobless rate surge outstrips all survey forecasts
- Government says weak figures due to strict virus-related curbs
This article is for subscribers only.
South Korea’s jobless rate surged to its highest in more than two decades, raising concern that an export-driven recovery could be masking a harsher scarring of the economy.
The unemployment rate jumped to 5.4% in January from a revised 4.5% the previous month to hit its highest level since the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. The result outstripped all survey forecasts as the economy shed almost a million jobs from a year ago for the worst losses since 1998.