Unemployment and labour markets in South Korea: globalisation, social impacts and policy responses

Unemployment in South Korea (hereafter ‘Korea’) is an important issue. From the 1960s Korean society had become increasingly used to expanding employment and, on the whole, low levels of unemployment. Within this overall picture of the level of unemployment there was something of a gentle ‘roller-coaster ride’, with rates (in per cent) going from 7.7 (1965) to 4.4 (1970) to 4.1 (1975), with a short blip to 5.2 (1980) then 2.4 (1990) to 2.6 (1997). This ride became far more severe with the fall-out of Asian Crisis when unemployment rates shot up from 2.9 (1993) to 7.0 (1998) before subsiding again to 3.4 (2003).