Over the past five years, the number of repeat beneficiaries who received unemployment benefits three or more times reached 113,000 last year.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to Representative Kim So-hee of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, the number of people receiving benefits three or more times has steadily increased every year from 102,000 in 2022.

Unemployment benefits paid to them alone approach 600 billion won per year, with the average amount received per person reaching about 5.3 million won.

The number of people who received benefits five or more times has also increased steadily since 2022, reaching 15,000 last year, and a case was even confirmed where a single individual collected unemployment benefits seven times.

In particular, the number of people who repeatedly quit and were rehired at the same workplace to collect unemployment benefits has recorded in the 60,000s every year for three consecutive years.

Cases of fraudulent collection, where people fake contract terminations or forced resignations procedurally to receive unemployment benefits, are also continuing.

Organized crimes have also been uncovered, such as colluding with employers while receiving unemployment benefits to receive wages in cash rather than by bank transfer, or mobilizing brokers to recruit false workers and pocketing hundreds of millions of won in unemployment benefits.

Under the current law, if fraudulent collection is detected, additional collections of up to five times the amount can be made, along with criminal penalties such as imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won, but instances of abuse continue to grow.

Experts point out that since simple monitoring alone is insufficient to prevent fraudulent collection of unemployment benefits through short-term employment and resignation, fundamental institutional improvements are needed, such as further strengthening the current subscription requirement of just 180 days.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News