South Korea’s labor market demand fell to its lowest level since the Asian Financial Crisis in November, with the ratio of new job openings to job seekers dropping to 0.43, according to data released Monday by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. While the number of employment insurance subscribers rose by 178,000 from a year earlier — driven largely by the health and welfare sector — unemployment benefit payments for the first 11 months of the year reached a record high of $7.8 billion (11.47 trillion won), surpassing the previous peak set during the pandemic in 2021.

The data revealed