This Aug. 5 photo shows construction workers at a building site in Daegu. (Yonhap)
About 26.6 percent of all jobs in South Korea during the first quarter of this year were held by newly hired workers, marking the lowest proportion since the government began tallying the figure in 2018.
The recent hires include those for vacant and newly created positions.
According to Statistics Korea on Thursday, South Korea had 5.47 million such new jobs in the first quarter, continuing a downward trend from 6.04 million in the first quarter of 2022 and 5.82 million in the same period of 2024.
Among workers in their 20s or younger, 46.9 percent held newly filled jobs, a drop of 1 percentage point from 2024. This marks the eighth consecutive quarter in which fewer than half of the jobs held by this age group were newly hired positions, indicating continued challenges in new employment opportunities for younger workers.
All other age groups saw a decline in new hire rates: 22.8 percent among those in their 30s, 19.7 percent among those in their 40s, 21.8 percent among those in their 50s and 30 percent among those aged 60 and above.
Thursday’s data also showed an overall decline of new jobs across most industries, with the shares of new hires standing at 18.8 percent for manufacturing, 27.5 percent in wholesale and retail business, and 46.1 percent for construction.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com