Weak hiring sentiment by companies in South Korea has driven the number of long-term jobseekers in the country to record highs.<br />It has also triggered a rapid expansion in government expenditure on unemployment benefits.<br />Kim Hyo-sun has more. <br />The number of South Koreans who are considered long-term unemployed came to 152-thousand a month on average over the first nine months of 2018. <br />According to Statistics Korea,... long-term unemployed refers to people who have failed to land jobs despite trying for more than six months. <br />The data also show that this is the highest figure since record keeping began in 1999. <br />With the prolonged slump in employment,... an increasing number of people have decided to give up on job seeking altogether. <br />The monthly average of people giving up on searching for work stood at 516-thousand through September,... jumping some 30-thousand year-on-year. <br />Increasing unemployment is a big headache for the government. <br /><br />"Challenges continue due to the slump in private investment and a one-digit increase in the employment rate in the latter half of the year."<br /><br />Due to the increasing number of long-term jobseekers, South Korea's expenditures on unemployment benefits stood at around four-point-four billion U.S. dollars from January to September ,... a more than 23 percent surge on-year. <br />Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News. <br />