The number of temporary employees in South Korea fell to 4.73 million in November 2020, down 3.3% when compared to the same period last year, according to data published by Statistics Korea.

The 3.3% decrease was an improvement over October’s 5.3% annual decline.

When compared to the previous month, the number of temporary employees in South Korea increased by 2.4% in October 2020.

Statistics Korea also published labour market figures for November. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.4% in November, up 0.3% year-on-year. This was lower than the previous month’s 3.7% unemployment rate.

The number of unemployed persons totalled 967,000 people in November, which increased by 101,000 persons or 11.7% year-on-year.

At the same time, the number of employed persons totalled 27.24 million persons in November, which declined by 273,000 persons or 1.0% year-on-year.

Among sectors, construction saw an increase of 3.7% while wholesale & retail trade, accommodation & food saw the biggest decline at 5.5%.

The employment to population ratio was 60.7% in November, down 1.0% year-on-year.

At the same time, South Korea’s economically active population stood at 28.20 million in November, which decreased by 172,000 persons or 0.6% year-on-year.

The labour force participation rate stood at 62.8% in November, down 0.8% year-on-year.