Employment Insurance Subscribers Increase by 115,000... Lowest in 21 Years

Construction Industry Continues to Decline for 18 Consecutive Months
"Companies Take a Cautious Approach to Recruitment"

Last month, the increase in new employment insurance subscribers remained in the 0% range, marking the lowest growth rate in 21 years since January 2004. Considering the characteristic of employment indicators that tend to increase significantly at the beginning of the year, concerns have arisen that the employment impact due to economic downturn may be appearing.

According to the 'Labor Market Trends Based on Employment Administration Statistics for January 2025' released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 10th, as of the end of last month, the number of regular employment insurance subscribers was 15,174,000, an increase of 115,000 (0.8%) compared to the same month last year. This is the lowest January figure on record since January 2004 (73,000), when the increase in employment insurance subscribers sharply declined due to the 2003 credit card crisis.

By industry, manufacturing (11,000) and service sectors (124,000) saw an increase in employment insurance subscribers, while construction (-21,000) decreased. Manufacturing increased mainly in other transportation equipment, food products, and automobiles, but decreased in textiles and metal processing. The service sector increased mainly in health and welfare, professional science, education, accommodation and food services, and transportation and warehousing, while wholesale and retail trade and information and communications continued to decline.

The construction industry, centered on general construction, has decreased for 18 consecutive months. With the construction market continuing to perform poorly and showing no signs of recovery, the decrease in subscribers has also widened. Since August last year (-13,000), construction industry subscribers had been decreasing in the 10,000 range but increased to the 20,000 range last month.

New applications for unemployment benefits last month were 186,000, down 16,000 (-7.9%) compared to the same month last year. After three consecutive months of increase since October last year (10,000), it decreased again. However, in the construction industry, which is experiencing poor business conditions, unemployment benefit applicants increased by 2,000 (11.9%), continuing the upward trend.

The number of unemployment benefit recipients last month was 600,000, a decrease of 14,000 (-2.3%). On the other hand, the payment amount was 974.7 billion KRW, an increase of 35.6 billion KRW (3.8%). This is the highest payment amount for January since January 1997.

New job postings using Worknet were 135,000, down 101,000 (-42.7%). New job seekers were 479,000, a decrease of 33,000 (-6.5%). The Worknet job vacancy ratio (number of jobs per job seeker) fell by 0.18 points to 0.28. This is the lowest level since January 1999 (0.23).

Cheon Kyung-gi, Director of Future Employment Analysis at the Ministry of Employment, explained, "The slowdown in the construction and manufacturing sectors is unfavorable," adding, "Looking at how recently mentioned psychological indicators might have affected corporate recruitment, it seems that even hiring was judged somewhat conservatively."

However, he added, "These factors are difficult to explain based solely on last month's situation," and "Since recruitment was almost impossible during the fourth week of January (Lunar New Year holidays), we need to observe the situation until February."