S Korea's unemployment claims rise for 2nd month in May

SEOUL: South Korea has seen an increase in unemployment claims for the second month in a row. This rise is attributed to a surge in demand within the construction, communications, and science sectors, as per the data published by the Ministry of Employment and Labour on Monday.

In May, there were 88,000 new applicants for job-seeking benefits, marking a 1.8% increase from the same month the previous year. This figure has been on an upward trend since April, fuelled by persistent worries about an economic slowdown.

There was a rise in benefit applicants in the construction, information and communications, science and technology, and business service industries. Conversely, the manufacturing, transport, and health and welfare sectors saw a decrease in figures last month.

The government provides job-seeking benefits, which make up the majority of unemployment benefits, to aid the unemployed in their search for work. These benefits are financed by the state employment insurance fund. In May, the total number of recipients of these benefits was 646,000, a 1.6% decrease from the previous year.

In the aforementioned month, the total payment of job-seeking benefits saw a 1.4% increase, amounting to 1.08 trillion won ($783.9 million).

By RSS/Xinhua