Kim Woo-seok (39), who runs a pasta house in Seoul’s university district, has recently reduced the number of employees from 7 employees, including 3 full-time employees and 4 part-time workers to 1 recently. In March of last year, when the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) spread in earnest, the number of existing employees did not decrease, except for some part-time workers, but as the quarantine situation continued for more than a year, it could not last.
Mr. Kim said, “In particular, with the strengthening of quarantine measures in the 2.5th stage, sales have decreased by up to a quarter compared to the previous year.” Even the employees who worked, with tears, let go.”
Even employees who had been there for more than a year were sent out.
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According to the’January Labor Force Survey’ by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of lodging and restaurant workers decreased by 240,000 compared to the same month last year. This is the largest decline since June 2009, when related statistics were started to be compiled. News 1
– The unending Corona 19 situation was a direct hit for the lodging and restaurant industry workers like Kim. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s’January 2021 Labor Force Survey’ on the 28th, the decline in lodging and restaurant jobs compared to the previous year increased significantly from 84,000 in December last year to 240,000 last month. Since 2009, when the labor force survey of businesses began to draw up employment statistics, the decline in lodging and restaurant workers is the largest ever.
If you look a little closer at the statistics, the situation is more serious. Of the 240,000 jobs in the lodging and restaurant industries, which declined last month, 151,000 were full-time workers who worked for more than one year, and 89,000 were temporary and daily workers. It means that not only part-time students but also employees who had been with them for a long time were sent out.
As a result of this, the total number of regular workers also decreased by 303,000 last month, the largest drop in history. Temporary and daily jobs also decreased by 26,000, and other workers, including specially employed, decreased by 22,000.
Average wage rises due to decline in low-wage jobs
– Although jobs were drastically reduced, paradoxically, average wages rose. This is because the decline in jobs was mainly focused on low-wage industries that are vulnerable to crisis, such as lodging and restaurants.
In December last year, the total wage per worker was 44,000 won, an increase of 3.0% (118,000 won) from the same month last year. In detail, the total wage for one temporary daily worker was 1.75,000 won in December last year, up 8.2% (130,000 won) from the previous year. The number of regular workers was 4.246,000 won, an increase of 2.7% (112,000 won) from the previous year.
The Ministry of Employment explained, “The total wages increased compared to the same month last year as the number of temporary and daily workers such as lodging and restaurant businesses with low wages decreased due to the influence of Corona 19.”
Corona foot restructuring… More hitting on the underprivileged
– As the situation is like this, the’Corona 19 Job Restructuring’ is in progress, focusing on the sectors that have been damaged by the government’s quarantine measures. In particular, due to relatively low employment stability, non-regular workers, small and medium-sized businesses, and self-employed workers, who are the underprivileged in jobs, suffered a greater blow.
![Graphic image of the increase or decrease of the number of employees employed in the last month by work type. [자료제공=통계청]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/202102/28/a84c0b57-06e1-4c1f-a8cf-6e91d59aa100.jpg?w=900&ssl=1)
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Graphic image of the increase or decrease of the number of employees employed in the last month by work type. [자료제공=통계청]
– According to the National Statistical Office and the Small and Medium Business Research Institute on the 16th, the number of temporary workers last month decreased by 563,000 (12.7%) from a year ago. It was the largest in the 2000s in terms of the scale and rate of decline. The number of daily workers was 1135,000 last month, down 232,000 (17%) from a year ago. It declined the most since 2010, during the global financial crisis.
The polarization of employment in large companies and SMEs has also intensified. Last month, the number of small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 300 employees was 23082,000, down by 1.14,000. It has declined for 11 consecutive months.
There have also been an increase in the number of stores alone, who do not hire employees at all. According to the National Statistical Office, the number of self-employed people with employees last year was 1,372,000, down 166,000 from the previous year. On the other hand, the number of self-employed people without employees was 4.159,000 last year, an increase of 91,000 during the same period.
![Graphic image of employment trends in large and small companies. [자료제공=통계청, 중소기업연구원]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/202102/28/e0ebd297-9510-4b94-b43d-9edf92fe788a.jpg?w=900&ssl=1)
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Graphic image of employment trends in large and small companies. [자료제공=통계청, 중소기업연구원]
– The problem is that even if the quarantine situation improves again, it may not be easy to recover jobs that have once decreased. Yeo Hyeon-su, 36, who runs a meat restaurant, said, “With Corona 19, a significant portion of it is replaced by delivery customers, so we don’t need as many employees to take care of the business right away. It seems difficult to draw more.”
Seong Tae-yoon, a professor of economics at Yonsei University, said, “With the increase in the minimum wage and the 52-hour weekly implementation, labor costs have risen. Therefore, it will not be easy for jobs to recover as in the past.”
Sejong = Reporter Kim Namjun [email protected] 
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