Rising youth unemployment and layoffs due to increases in Korea's minimum wage..... have contributed to a sharp rise in payouts from the country's unemployment insurance fund.... which assists individuals who have lost their jobs.<br />Data released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Monday shows.... that nearly 5-point-8-billion U.S. dollars was paid out last year... up by 28-and-a-half-percent from the previous year.<br />The number of unemployment insurance recipients also rose by nearly four-percent to a combined.... 13-point-4-million in December... most of them from the struggling construction sector. <br />
