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 percent last month from a revised 4.5 percent in December last year, hitting its highest level since after the Asian financial crisis.
The result outstripped all forecasts as the economy shed almost 1 million jobs from a year earlier for the worst losses since 1998.
The sharp deterioration in the labor market contrasts with the view that the South Korean economy has been one of the best performers in the developed world last year and suggests that the South Korean government might need to take more action to support jobs.
“The huge hit to jobs is going to weigh on the pace of economic recovery,” said Sung Tae-yoon, an economics professor at Yonsei University in Seoul. “People looking for jobs will also decrease as the economy worsens, which may technically bring down the jobless rate, but economic difficulties will continue.”
Last month, the sector combining retailers, wholesalers, restaurants and hotels was hit hardest with 585,000 job losses from a year earlier.
More than 340,000 positions were shed in a sector that includes public service, as the government’s job-creation measures expired. Manufacturing lost 46,000 jobs.
The government takes the situation “seriously” and would use all available options to deal with it, South Korean Minister of Finance Hong Nam-ki said in a statement, blaming the job losses partly on expired fiscal support for jobs creation at the turn of the year, and a high year-earlier base.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is also calling for incentives for companies that would share some of their profits during the pandemic with ones that were hit harder, a move that could indirectly support employment.
Some South Korean lawmakers are putting pressure on the Bank of Korea to adopt a jobs mandate as part of its goals.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
EARLY TALKS: Measures under consideration include convincing allies to match US curbs, further restricting exports of AI chips or GPUs, and blocking Chinese investments US President Donald Trump’s administration is sketching out tougher versions of US semiconductor curbs and pressuring key allies to escalate their restrictions on China’s chip industry, an early indication the new US president plans to expand efforts that began under former US president Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess. Trump officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron Ltd and ASML Holding NV engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, people familiar with the matter said. The aim, which was also a priority for Biden, is to see key allies match China curbs the US
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
Berkshire Hathaway Inc is looking to increase ownership in Japan’s five largest trading houses “over time,” company chairman and CEO Warren Buffett said in an annual letter to shareholders. The conglomerate had originally agreed to keep its holdings in the companies below 10 percent. However, the trading houses have agreed to relax the ceiling “moderately,” as Berkshire approaches the limit, a letter dated on Saturday said. The shares of the five — Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsui & Co, Itochu Corp, Sumitomo Corp and Marubeni Corp — have benefited over the longer-term from Buffett’s interest. However, they have struggled in recent months, along with
RSS