每日跟讀#600: Jobless rate hits 19-year high in April

According to job figures released by Statistics Korea, the total number of jobless people surpassed 1.24 million as of April for the first time since the government started compiling the data in June 1999.

根據南韓「統計廳」發布的就業數字，截至4月，南韓失業人口總數超過124萬人，係自該國政府1999年6月開始彙編該數據以來的第一次。

The jobless rate stood at 4.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier and marking the highest for any April since 2000, when Asia’s fourth-largest economy was reeling under the aftermaths of the Asian Financial Crisis.

失業率為4.4％，年增0.3個百分點，乃自2000年以來，每年4月的最高數字。而亞洲第4大經濟體南韓於2000年時，正因「亞洲金融危機」的餘波而步履蹣跚。

The latest jobless rate was partly attributable to the increased number of applicants to take the civil servant test. About 380,000 took the test in April this year, while 200,000 had applied in March last year. Taking the heaviest blow from the sluggish employment trend was the retail and wholesale sector, which lost 76,000 positions in April.

該最新失業率部分歸因於參加公務人員考試的考生人數增加，今年4月約有38萬人，但去年3月為20萬人。因就業趨勢低迷而受創最重的是零售及批發業，4月減少7.6萬個工作。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1289703