Ministry of Labor | Statistics

1. Employment

(1) Economically Active Population Survey

(In thousand persons,%,%p)

Economically Active Population Survey
	'07	'08	'08/12	'09	'09/12
Economically active population	24,216(1.0)	24,347(0.5)	24,032( 0.2)	24,394( 0.2)	24,063( 0.1)
Participation rate	61.8(-0.1)	61.5(-0.3)	60.4(-0.6)	60.8(-0.7)	59.7(-0.7)
No. of employed	23,433(1.2)	23,577(0.6)	23,245(-0.1)	23,506(-0.3)	23,229(-0.1)
Employment¹⁾	59.8(0.1)	59.5(-0.3)	58.4(-0.7)	58.6(-0.9)	57.6(-0.8)
- Male	71.3(0.0)	70.9(-0.4)	69.8(-0.9)	70.1(-0.8)	69.5(-0.3)
- Female	48.9(0.1)	48.7(-0.2)	47.5(-0.5)	47.7(-1.0)	46.2(-1.3)
- Youth³⁾	42.6(-0.8)	41.6(-1.0)	40.4(-1.4)	40.5(-2.6)	40.5( 0.1)
- Age^*	60.6(1.3)	60.6(0.0)	58.6(-0.6)	60.4(-0.2)	58.4(-0.2)
OECD average ^4)*Employment Rate	63.9(0.1)	63.8(-0.1)	63.0(-0.6)	62.9(-1.4)	62.6(-0.4)
- Male^*	74.6(-0.1)	74.4(-0.2)	73.6(-0.8)	73.6(-1.1)	73.7(0.1)
- Female^*	53.2(0.1)	53.2(0.0)	52.4(-0.4)	52.2(-1.9)	51.5(-0.9)

Note :

1) Employment rate= (employed persons aged 15 and over/population aged 15 and over)x100
2) Aged : people aged 55~64, original series
3) Youth : people aged 15~29
4) OECD average employment rate=(employed people aged 15~64/population aged 15~64)x100, original series
#Original series. Figures in [ ]* refer to % change on year ago.
Figures in ( ) are % change on year ago, and figures in [ ] are % change on previous month

Source :

National Statistical Office (www.nso.go.kr) [Economically Active Population Survey]

2. Wage & working hours

(1) Survey on Wages

Survey on Wages
Nominal wage	2008. 3/4		2009. 2/4		2009. 3/4
Total workers	2,672	(2.6)	2,524	(-1.6)	2,641	(-1.2)
- Regular workers	2,842	(3.0)	2,684	(-2.3)	2,819	(-0.8)
- Temporary & daily workers	880	(-4.1)	806	(-1.3)	817	(-7.2)
Consumer price index	111.1	(5.5)	112.7	(2.8)	113.3	(2.0)

Survey on Wages
Real wage	2008. 3/4		2009. 2/4		2009. 3/4
Total workers	2,405	(-2.7)	2,239	(-4.3)	2,331	(-3.1)
- Regular workers	2,558	(-2.4)	2,381	(-5.0)	2,330	(-8.9)
- Temporary & daily workers	792	(-9.2)	715	(-4.0)	721	(-9.1)

Note :

1) Figures in ( ) are year-on-year increase rates.
2) Real wage = (nominal wage/consumer price index) x 100
3) Year-on-year increase rates cannot be calculated because data have been recorded since the first quarter of 2007.

Source :

Ministry of Labor (http://laborstat.molab.go.kr) [Survey on Wages & Working Hours at Establishments (previously called Monthly Labor Survey)]

(2) Working Hours at Establishments

(In day, hour, %)

Working Hours at Establishments
Hours worked	'08. 3/4	'09. 3/4
Hours worked	'08. 3/4	Total workers	Regular workers	Temporary & daily workers
Days worked	20.2(1.5)	21.4(6.1)	22.0(6.3)	15.5(2.9)
Total hours worked	39.5 [171.7] (1.8)	40.7 [176.9] (3.0)	42.3 [183.5] (3.3)	25.1 [108.9] (-2.0)

Note :

1) Figures in ( ) are year-on-year increase rates.
2) Figures in [ ] refer to the number of hours worked per month.
3) * Year-on-year increase rates cannot be calculated because data have been recorded since the first quarter of 2007.

Source :

Ministry of Labor (http://laborstat.molab.go.kr) Survey on Wages & Working Hours at Establishments (previously called Monthly)

3. Labor administration

(1) Number of foreigners employed under Employment Permit System

(In person, cumulative total)

Number of foreigners employed under Employment Permit System
Month/Year	Total	Foreigners employed under general EPS	Foreigners employed in special case of EPS
‘09.10	647,868	227,421	420,447
'08	492,311	172,513	319,798
'07	291,333	97,489	193,844
'06	146,767	63,802	82,965
'05	67,568	34,826	32,742
'04	7,095	3,167	3,928

Note :

1) Yearly figures are based on data for each Dec.
2) The number of foreign workers employed in a special case of EPS is obtained by looking at the number of foreign workers who

Source :

Foreign Workforce Policy Division, Ministry of Labor

(2) Number of foreigners illegally staying in Korea

(In person, cumulative total, %)

Number of foreigners illegally staying in Korea
Month/Year	Total no. of foreigners	No. of illegal foreigners	No. of illegal foreigners¹⁾
'09.10	1,164,166	181,331	15.5
'08.10	1,171,220	192,807	16.4
'08	1,158,866	200,489	17.3
'07	1,066,273	223,464	21.0
'06	910,149	211,988	23.3
'05	747,467	204,254	27.3
'04	750,873	209,841	27.9

Note :

1) Yearly figures are based on data for each Dec.
2) No. of illegal foreigners = number of illegal foreigners / total number of foreigners staying in Korea

Source :

Korea Immigration Service (http://www.immigration.go.kr)[Monthly Statistical Report of the Korea Immigration Service]

(3) Results of wage bargaining

(%)

Results of wage bargaining
Month/Year	Wage increase rate	Progress rate
'09.11	1.4	70.5
'08.11	5.1	69.5
'08	4.9	84.0
'07	4.8	76.5
'06	4.8	85.7
'05	4.7	90.7
'04	5.2	93.3

Note :

1) Yearly figures are based on data for each Dec.
2) Wage increase rates are calculated based on total wages in 6,561 workplaces with 100 employees or more.(year-on-year increase)

Source :

Labor Management Cooperation Policy Division, Ministry of Labor

(4) Labor dispute

(In case, day)

Labor dispute
Month/Year	No. of disputes	No. of illegal disputes	No. of work days lost
'09.10	101[155]	8	520,000
'08	108 [130]	17	809,402
'07	115 [212]	17	536,285
'06	138 [253]	24	1,200,267
'05	287	16	847,697
'04	462	58	1,198,779

Note :

1) The way of calculating the number of disputes was changed.
- Considering the ILO standards and the results of a study on how to improve statistics on labor disputes conducted by the Korea
Figures in [ ] indicate the number of disputes for 2006~2008 obtained using the previous method.

Source :

Labor Management Conflict Handling Division, Ministry of Labor

(5) Industrial accident

(In person, %)

Industrial accident
		All industries	Manufacturing	Construction
'09.3	Deaths	168	41	48
	Accident rate	0.05	0.08	0.05
	Accident victims	6,942	2,420	1,474
'09.1	Deaths	168	41	48
	Accident rate	0.05	0.08	0.05
	Accident victims	6,942	2,420	1,474
'08.1~10	Accident rate	0.58	0.96	0.49
'08.1~10	Accident victims	79,456	29,759	16,778
'07	Deaths	2,406	605	630
	Accident rate	0.72	1.1	0.66
	Accident victims	90,147	34,117	19,050
'06	Deaths	2,453	612	631
	Accident rate	0.77	1.18	0.7
	Accident victims	89,910	35,914	17,955

Source :

Occupational Safety & Health Policy Division, Ministry of Labor

(6) Number of insured persons under employment insurance

(In each, person)

Number of insured persons under employment insurance
Month/Year	No. of establishments	No. of insured persons
'09.10	1,338,230	9,926,650
'08.10	1,339,963	9,389,072
'08	1,424,330	9,385,239
'07	1,288,138	9,063,301
'06	1,176,462	8,536,966
'05	1,148,474	8,063,797
'04	1,002,638	7,576,856