The number of people who are voluntarily unemployed has exceeded 1.6 million for the first time. This category is defined by the government as including people who have no specific reason for being unemployed, and who are not sick or aged, but are capable of working. With the inclusion of job seekers, who are defined as people actively preparing to take exams for employment in companies or government agencies, and people who are involuntarily unemployed, the number of people without jobs has climbed to above three million.

According to a report released by the National Statistical Office on March 13, the number of people categorized by the government as people who are voluntarily unemployed, or “people who are just taking a break,” rose to 1,628,000 last month, accounting for 4.1 percent of the economically active population above the age of 15, or 39.42 million. This number is not reflected in the government’s unemployment data because these people are categorized as being economically inactive.

This figure has increased sharply since 2003. It stood at 977,000 in February 2003; 1,474,000 in February 2005; and 1,589,000 in February 2007. The growth rate has stood at 66.6 percent over the past five years, more than 10 times higher than the population growth rate for people over the age of 15. As the job market has increasingly decreased, the number of people who have “quit job hunting” has increased at a faster pace, the data indicated.

In addition, the number of job seekers, or people who are actively preparing for exams with the hope of finding employment in companies or government agencies, rose to 607,000 in February. In Korea, it is customary for employers to require an employment exam as a way to weed out job applicants prior to conducting formal job interviews.

Including the 819,000 people categorized as being involuntarily unemployed, the total number of people without jobs stood at 3,054,000 last month. Meanwhile, the proportion of people over age 15 without jobs rose to 7.74 percent last month, compared to 5.82 percent in February 2003.

Of the total number of people without jobs, 2,229,000 were men, accounting for 11.6 percent of the male population aged above 15, or 19,232,000. This means that one out of nine men who are capable of working is unemployed. The number of women without jobs was 827,000, or 4.1 percent of the female population above the age of 15.

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