S.Korea's number of youth hires falls 90,000 in March

The number of youth hired for regular or "high-quality" jobs in South Korea fell over 40,000 last month year on year, while the ranks of jobs of a part-time nature like non-permanent and day positions rose 20,000.

Data on the economically active population released on Sunday by Statistics Korea said the number of full-time workers among wage earners ages 15-29 last month was 2,494,000, down 45,000 from the same month last year.

Over the same period, the number of temporary workers among youth hit 1,068,000, up 13,000.

By sector, youth hires for temporary and daily jobs surged in the lodging and restaurant industries. The number of temporary workers reached 365,000, up 57,000, and that of daily workers 59,000, up 15,000. The number of regular workers in the industry also increased 30,000 to 164,000.

Last month, the number of youth wage and non-wage workers was 3,907,000, down 89,000 and making the fifth consecutive month of decline year on year.

Write to Se-Min Huh at semin@hankyung.com