Number of short-term unemployed dips in Feb. despite job crunch

SEOUL, March 20 (Yonhap) -- Despite a persistent job crunch, the number of the short-term unemployed in South Korea fell the most in 71 months in February, data showed Tuesday, as more people gave up searching for jobs.

The number of people who have been jobless for less than three months came to 826,000 last month, down 116,000 from the same month a year earlier, according to the data from Statistic Korea.

It marked the largest on-year decrease since March 2012, when the figure decreased by 135,000.

The number of short-term unemployed people has recently been on the decline though Asia's fourth-largest economy remains gripped by a prolonged shortage of jobs.

The statistics agency said the drop came probably because more people were jobless for a longer period or simply abandoned job searches.

In contrast, the number of long-term unemployed people has been on the rise. A total of 154,000 people were unemployed for six months or longer in February, up 33,000 from the same month a year ago.

It was the largest on-year increase since the 42,000 recorded in April last year.

Meanwhile, the number of people outside the labor force climbed by 247,000 last month from a year earlier, the biggest on-year gain since April 2015. The number of people who have given up job searches came to 542,000 in February, up 45,000 from the prior year.
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