Manufacturing Employment Insurance Subscribers 'Turn to Decrease' Excluding Foreigners

Labor Market Trends in September 2023 Based on Employment Administration Statistics
350,000 Increase in Regular Employment Insurance Subscribers
89.5% of Employment Permit System Foreign Workers Concentrated in Manufacturing Industry

Last month, the number of manufacturing industry workers enrolled in employment insurance turned to a decline when excluding the impact of mandatory enrollment of foreign workers under the Employment Permit System.

According to the "Labor Market Trends in September 2023 Based on Employment Administration Statistics" released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 10th, the number of regular employment insurance subscribers was 15.255 million, an increase of 359,000 (2.4%) compared to the same month last year.

By industry, the number of manufacturing subscribers was 3.825 million, an increase of 119,000 compared to the same month last year. A Ministry of Employment and Labor official explained, "Although the increase in the number of manufacturing subscribers has been expanding for eight consecutive months, it turned to a decrease when excluding the impact of mandatory enrollment of foreign workers under the Employment Permit System."

The mandatory application of employment insurance (mandatory application of employment stability and vocational ability development) for foreign workers under the Employment Permit System (E9·H2) and the effect of new hires due to the expansion of the foreign workforce this year resulted in 200,000 foreign workers enrolled as of the end of September, an increase of 137,000 compared to the same month last year. In particular, 89.5% of foreign workers under the Employment Permit System are concentrated in manufacturing, greatly affecting the trend of manufacturing subscribers. In fact, the increase in subscribers excluding foreign workers under the Employment Permit System decreased from 7,000 in May this year to 1,000 in August and recorded a decrease of 100 in September. The Ministry of Employment and Labor expects that this impact will continue for the time being as the size of the foreign workforce expands.

The number of new job-seeker benefit applicants in September was 82,000, an increase of 1,000 (1.2%) compared to the same month last year, with increases in construction (2,000), information and communication (800), and manufacturing (600) industries.

The number of job-seeker benefit recipients was 590,000, an increase of 19,000 (3.3%) compared to the same month last year. The payment amount was 936.1 billion won, an increase of 9.9 billion won (1.1%), while the payment amount per person was 1.587 million won, a decrease of 34,000 won (-2.1%).