Short-Term Jobs Drop to 31-Year Low Amid Slumping Construction and Domestic Demand, Hitting Workers in Their 40s and 50s

The number of temporary and daily workers in the third quarter of this year fell to its lowest level for the same period in 31 years.

The decrease in short-term jobs, centered around the construction and domestic consumption sectors, has dealt a heavy blow to middle-aged workers.

According to an analysis of microdata from the Economically Active Population Survey by the Statistics Korea (Korea Statistical Information Service / National Data Agency) on October 25, temporary and daily workers in the third quarter of this year stood at 5.727 million, down 95,000 from the same period last year.

This is the smallest scale for the third quarter since 1995, when the figure was 5.451 million.

Among them, daily workers decreased by 38,000 to 833,000.

This marks an all-time low for the third quarter.

The decline in daily workers was largely driven by the slump in the construction industry.

Daily workers in the construction sector dropped by 28,000 from the same period last year to 381,000, accounting for 74.6 percent of the total decline in daily workers.

This was followed by wholesale and retail (-10,000), agriculture, forestry and fishing (-9,000), membership organizations, repair and other personal service activities (-9,000), and accommodation and food service activities (-8,000).

Excluding agriculture, forestry, and fishing, which are undergoing a structural decline, all other affected sectors are related to domestic consumption.

By age group, among construction daily workers, those in their 50s saw the largest drop with a decrease of 21,000.

Daily workers in the wholesale and retail sector decreased mainly among the younger generation (aged 15–29, -6,000), while those in membership organizations, repair and other personal service activities saw a large drop among people in their 50s (-11,000).

Daily workers in accommodation and food service activities also declined, centered around the younger generation (-6,000), those in their 40s (-2,000), and those in their 50s (-2,000).

Temporary workers decreased as well.

Temporary workers with contract periods ranging from one month to less than one year were tallied at 4.894 million, down 57,000 from the same period last year.

By industry, temporary workers in accommodation and food service activities experienced the largest drop, falling by 30,000.

The construction and information and communications sectors each dropped by 22,000, while the wholesale and retail sector fell by 21,000.

By age group, temporary workers in accommodation and food service activities saw a sharp decline among those in their 40s (-15,000), with noticeable drops also among those in their 30s (-10,000) and 50s (-9,000).

In the construction sector, large decreases were seen among those aged 60 and older (-20,000) and those in their 40s (-17,000).

In wholesale and retail, temporary workers decreased in the order of those in their 50s (-13,000), the younger generation (-10,000), and those in their 40s (-9,000).

In particular, concerns are rising that the concentration of short-term job cuts among middle-aged and older adults in their 40s and above, who are mostly responsible for supporting their household livelihoods, could increase the financial burden on vulnerable groups.

According to the Supplementary Results of the Economically Active Population Survey by Employment Type released in August of this year, 32.0 percent of non-regular workers chose their jobs due to involuntary reasons, and 73.9 percent of them responded that they did so because they "needed immediate income for living expenses."

Although temporary and daily workers and non-regular workers have different statistical classification criteria, they overlap significantly. As a result, analysts note that a reduction in jobs for short-term workers who work to make a living could directly lead to income instability.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.