The number of non-regular workers here in South Korea soared to its highest in more than a decade,... while the number of regular workers plunged in August.<br />The government cited a change in counting methods as one of the main reasons behind the spike,... but many are raising doubts about the quality of jobs.<br />Yoon Jung-min has the details.<br />The number of non-regular workers in South Korea is at its highest in 12 years while the number of regular workers has sharply decreased,... adding to concerns about the quality of jobs.<br />According to the Statistics Agency on Tuesday,... the number of non-regular employees reached nearly 7-point-5 million in August, up 13 percent on-year.<br />That's the highest figure since March 2007.<br />The number of regular employees was down 350-thousand to some 13-million.<br />Responding to the criticism that the government has made the already unstable labor market more fragile,... the statistics agency attributed the results to a change in the way they classify and count jobs.<br />They said they have changed how they classify fixed-term contracts,... and as a result, up to 500-thousand workers employed under fixed-term contracts are now counted by the statistics agency as non-regular workers.<br />Those include fixed-term workers whose employment terms aren't decided, but can end anytime.<br />The finance ministry also said the hike in the number of non-regular jobs was because of the increase in new jobs through the government's job creation policies.<br />Skeptics, however, said the policies have actually churned out short-term jobs mainly for the elderly.<br />When it comes to salary,... non-regular workers earned some 1-point-4 thousand U.S. dollars a month on average from June to August,... compared to 2-point-7-thousand dollars for regular workers.<br />By age, those in their 60s or above were the dominant age group in the temporary job market,... followed by people in their 50s and 20s.<br />By gender, women took 55 percent of the temporary job market and men accounted for 45 percent.<br />Most of them worked in the health and service sector or in facility management.<br />Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.<br />
