By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
Women, temporary workers and other ``socially and economically weak'' have been hit hard by the global economic crisis over the past year as companies target them first when it comes to layoffs.
Unlike in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, many firms are refraining from dismissing full-time employees, who are mostly males, in preparation for an economic rebound.
They instead resorted to dismissing non-essential workers and cutting operational costs and salaries.
Even though the Korean economy has shown signs of an upturn in recent months, the job market remains tight, particularly for women, university graduates, small-scale shop owners and non-regular workers.
This is feared to deepen the employment polarization between the haves and have-nots.
According to Statistics Korea Sunday, the country sustained its largest loss of jobs in 2009 since the currency crisis 12 years ago.
The number of workers stood at 23.51 million last year, down 72,000 from 2008, the largest decrease since Korea saw 1.28 million positions disappear in 1998.
The number of male workers increased by 31,000 to 13.7 million last year, while the number of female employees plunged 103,000 to 9.77 million.
This was in stark contrast to what happened in 1998, when the number of men and women workers decreased in similar fashion, by 636,000 and 641,000, respectively, from 1997.
Additionally, the number of full-time workers with over a year of job security rose by 383,000 in 2009 from 2008, while temporary employees fell 158,000, the largest decline since 2003, when the figure dropped by 303,000.
By level of education, employees with bachelor's degrees and higher increased by 298,000 to 9.28 million last year, but the number of workers with a high-school diploma or lower declined by 370,000.
By age, only 3.96 million people aged 15-29 had jobs in 2009, down 127,000 from 2008, and the number of workers in their 30s plunged by 173,000.
But employees in their 50s and 60s, who are much wealthier on average than those fresh out of university, increased by 198,000 and 55,000, respectively.
Additionally, the number of self-employed fell 247,000 last year, the largest drop since 1984 when it decreased 343,000.
Everyone was affected by the crisis 12 years ago, regardless of their age, gender and employment status. But this time around, women, daily workers, self-employed and recent university graduates have been hit the hardest by the ongoing economic slump.
The bigger problem is that the labor market is not showing any signs of improvement for these groups, further widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
The number of male employees has moved upward since last June, while that of female workers dropped for 13 consecutive months through December.
The number of workers with university degrees and higher rose by 336,000 in December, but those with high-school diplomas and below decreased by 352,000.
Salaried employees stood at 16.5 million last month, up 366,000 from the previous year, but the number of self-employed declined by 382,000 to 6.67 million, falling for the 47th straight month since February 2006.
The Korea Times
