Joblessness among prime working-age group spikes in Dec.

SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- The number of employed prime working-age South Koreans
shrank at the fastest pace in more than a decade last month, highlighting the
challenges posed by the country's rapidly aging population, the central bank and
the statistical office said Tuesday.
The population of employed people aged between 25-49 dropped by 257,000 in
December from a year earlier, falling to 14,920,000, data by the Bank of Korea
and Statistics Korea showed.
The number of total employed workers in the country regardless of age dropped by
only 16,000 on-year to 23,229,000 as of December, the data showed.
According to the data, the decline in the number of workers aged 25-49 marks the
biggest drop since 1998 when 741,000 workers in the age group lost their jobs
amid the Asian financial crisis.
The latest decrease brings the ratio of employed prime working-age adults to an
all-time low of 64.2 percent compared to the total number of workers, the data
showed. The rate was down 1.1 percentage points from December 2008.
A decrease in the prime working-age group, which most actively participates in
economic activities, could impact the country's growth potential by forcing it to
rely on a smaller population to generate growth while a greater number of youth
and retirees tap into social programs.
"The decrease in the core producing population could negatively impact
productivity, consumption and savings," said Hur Jai-joon, a researcher at Korea
Labor Institute.
Sohn Min-jung, an analyst at Samsung Economic Research Institute, noted the
decline stemmed from "aging demographics," adding that "many efforts have to be
made to create jobs since it could damage growth potential".
pbr@yna.co.kr
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