Number of daily workers hits 10-year low amid economic woes

SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- The number of daily workers in South Korea fell to
the lowest level in 10 years in August as economic woes hurt the overall job
market, a government report said Wednesday.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) said there were 1.89 million daily workers
in the country last month, down 137,000 from an year earlier and the lowest since
1.73 million tallied for February of 1999.
Daily workers refer to people hired for less than a month and those that have no
fixed workplace. Such jobs are usually the hardest hit by a downturn in the
economy.
After peaking at 2.55 million in July 2002, the overall number of daily workers
has stayed around the two million mark in the past decade but fell to 1.96
million in the first month of this year as the global economic crisis hurt
private consumption, business investment, the construction sector and trade.
The report added that the number of daily jobs for men fell to 1.01 million in
August, down 107,000 from the year before. Short-term irregular jobs for women
declined by 29,000 to 873,000.
The NSO report said the sluggish economy also caused the number of self-employed
people and those working in small, family businesses to decline 373,000 compared
to the year before to 7.14 million in August.
The drop is the sharpest since 454,000 positions were lost in April 2003.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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