Economic Recession Hits Special Employment and Other Workers Harder: Causes of Decrease in Number of Business Employees

[Financial News]  
The number of business employees has shown a decline for four consecutive months, excluding the COVID-19 period. While wage workers slightly increased, other workers, including special form workers, showed a decline.
According to the 'April 2025 Business Workforce Survey Results' released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 29th, the number of employees in businesses with one or more employees at the end of last month was 20.274 million, a decrease of 2,000 compared to the same month last year. It has been declining for four consecutive months since January this year.
Regular and temporary daily workers increased by 5,000 and 17,000 respectively compared to the same month last year, but other workers decreased by 24,000, causing the total number of employees to decrease. Other workers refer to special form workers with strong employee characteristics, unpaid family workers, and unpaid workers learning work.
Kim Jae-hoon, head of the Labor Market Survey Division at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, explained, "When the economy is bad, special employment positions are greatly affected," adding, "In particular, other workers in wholesale and retail are decreasing significantly."
By industry, health and social welfare services (80,000), professional science and technical services (19,000), and real estate (17,000) increased, while construction (91,000), wholesale and retail (34,000), and accommodation and food services (11,000) decreased.
Meanwhile, the real wage in the first quarter was 3.797 million won, an increase of 2.3% (86,000 won) compared to the same period last year. This is because the nominal wage increase rate (4.5%) was higher than the consumer price index increase (2.1%). This was influenced by the increase in special bonuses in the semiconductor and financial and insurance industries.
Mr. Kim said, "The employment situation is not very good, but the decline is slowing," adding, "Real wages are increasing as nominal wages rise and the consumer price index stabilizes."

aber@fnnews.com Park Ji-young Reporter