[Anchor Lead]
Youth unemployment last year came to a record high ten percent. The new minimum wage could have an even bigger impact on young people in the workforce.
[Pkg]
Two women in their 20s are preparing for a written exam to enter a company. It's nothing new. They studied all throughout last year as well.
[Soundbite] (Job Seeker (Voice modified)) : "I wrote over 20 applications last year alone."
The nation's youth unemployment rate posted 9.9% last year, the highest since 2000 when data began to be compiled based on the current method. The unemployment rate Korean youths feel at hand is much higher at something close to 23%. The country's total unemployment remains the same at 3.7% as the previous year but the job market has apparently tightened for young people. The total number of employed people is also not growing as much. The growth in employment fell to the 200-thousand range in October and continued in this range for three straight months, which is the first since 2010. People employed in the manufacturing sector, regarded to offer relatively nice jobs, have dropped by more than 10-thousand. In recent days, the drop is particularly more noticeable in the food and accommodation sectors in which many small-scale self-employed people work. Just last month, the employment number in these fields was down by 50,000, the sharpest fall in nearly 6 years. But there's speculation the minimum wage hike introduced this year may have been a factor as employers could have decreased hires from late last year.
