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| Jobseekers flock to the Guro labor market in the early morning before darkness has lifted. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
By Bae Eun-joo
A recent news report showing thousands of jobseekers lined up looking for a day's work early in the morning raised the alarm over economic woes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. What also seriously concerned people was that many of the people gathered at Guro labor market were not wearing face masks or abiding by social distancing rules.
Guro labor market is Korea's largest gathering place for day laborers who get by living hand to mouth. Mostly construction laborers, they flock to the site between 3:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. to be picked up for a day job, if they are lucky. Many of the workers in the crowd are non-nationals, including ethnic Koreans from China, who are not fluent in Korean to understand quarantine guidelines well.
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| People anxiously wait for their names to be called out every morning. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
The market usually attracts thousands of people every morning, but the number of jobseekers has increased with the increasing job losses amid the continued economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak, which has infected roughly one in 10 people worldwide.
Fearing a mass virus outbreak at the labor market, Guro District Office dispatched officials to the place during the early morning hours to guide jobseekers through safety measures. Officials say the number of laborers searching for a day's work has almost tripled over the last few months as compared to 500 to 800 people at the beginning of this year. Whereas Chinese workers used to constitute the majority of jobseekers at the labor market, more and more Korean laborers including those in their 20s and 30s have been showing up recently, officials said.
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| People are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection as quarantine rules are difficult to keep. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
Korea lost 274,000 jobs in August, continuing a downward trend for the sixth consecutive month, according to government data. Employment levels contracted with declines of 195,000 in March, 476,000 in April, 392,000 in May, 352,000 in June and 277,000 in July. This was the longest period in which Asia's fourth-largest economy saw its employment rate continue falling since 2009 when the country was reeling from the blows it suffered under the lash of the 2008 global financial crisis.
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| After their names are called, laborers climb into the van, not asking where they will be taken. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
The employment rate for those aged 15 or older in August was 60.4 percent, a 1 percentage point year-on-year decline, marking the lowest rate since August 2013 when the figure stood at 60.2 percent. The unemployment rate in the same month was 3.1 percent, a 0.1 percent year-on-year rise, marking 6,000 more unemployed compared with the same period last year. The recorded number of unemployed persons in August was 864,000.
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| A man who failed to find a day's work wanders around the market. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
