5월 취업자 25만9천명↑…20만명대 증가폭 회복<br /><br />The government has released its latest jobs report...and data shows the number of new jobs are finally on the upswing. <br />To tell us more about the issue… we have our Ko Roon-hee in the studio.<br />Roon-hee, start off by summarizing today's job report.<br /> Sure.<br />One of the main indices included in the jobs report is the on-year increase in the number of people who are employed.<br />According to Statistics Korea, the total number of employed people in May was around 27-point-three million...up 259-thousand on-year. <br />The increase had been under the 200-thousand mark for 12 consecutive months until January,... but started to improve in February.<br />Last month's uptick was mainly due to more new jobs in the health and social work sectors,... which jumped by 124-thousand. <br />Analysts say, this comes after the government created more public sector jobs in those fields. <br />Jobs in accommodation and the food service sectors also saw an increase of 60-thousand... thanks to more foreigners visiting South Korea. <br />And another positive sign was the employment rate among people aged 15 to 64.<br />It marked 67-point-1 percent... the highest for the month of May since data first started being compiled in 1989. <br /><br />It's good to see some gradual signs of recovery in the job market.<br />So just looking at the number of new jobs and the employment rate...the overall situation doesn't look too bad, is this correct?<br /> Unfortunately, a more thorough analysis of the report shows there are some negative aspects. <br />The number of jobs continues to decline on-year in the manufacturing sector, which is considered South Korea's key growth engine.<br /> The number of employed people in that specific sector fell by more than 70-thousand on year...and has been falling on-year since April last year.<br />The manufacturing industry has been going through some problems such as restructuring in ship and auto industries. <br /> Other analysts point to falling exports due to the slower growth of the global economy as the reason for the decline.<br />And one of the biggest hits came from China.<br />The latest data by the Korea Customs Service shows outbound shipments to China dropped by more than 26-percent on year during the first 10 days of June. <br />This is also related to a decrease in the number of jobs for people in their 30s and 40s in May, as many people in that age bracket work in manufacuturing...and raises a red flag... as people in that age range are supposed to be actively engaged in economic activities.<br />Staying on the age topic, let's take a look at the change in number of people employed in May by age group.<br /> We can see that the number increased a lot in the group aged 60 years and older.<br />It jumped by 354-thousand...which contributed the most to the overall number of new jobs.<br />An expert in the field explained the reason behind this trend. <br />"The South Korean government generally tries to stimulate the economy by expansionary fiscal spending. One example is creating jobs in the public sector. And rece
