The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Applicants for 'unemployment credits' on rise

By Yonhap

Published : Oct. 24, 2018 - 11:10

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South Korea saw more jobless people seek financial assistance from the state pension fund amid the country's worsening unemployment situation, data showed Wednesday.

According to the data from the National Pension Service and submitted to the National Assembly, 312,616 unemployed people applied for the "unemployment credits" in the January-August period, compared with 369,272 for the whole of 2017.


(Yonhap) (Yonhap)

South Korea introduced the unemployment credit system in August 2016 to help mitigate financial difficulties of those who are in between jobs.

Under the system, the government shoulders 75 percent of monthly insurance payments of those who receive unemployment benefits for up to a year, while the recipients pay the rest.

The surge in the number of unemployment credit applicants came as a result of rising unemployment in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent in September, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. (Yonhap)