Increasing professionals and clerical occupations

By occupation, the group of professionals, technicians, administrators and managers has increased its share in total employment since the 1960s due to the growth of knowledge-based industries and enhanced skill requirements (Table 6-5).

Table 6-5. Employment by occupational group

The proportion of clerks also had been increasing before the financial crisis of 1997, which led to a widespread restructuring in firms and a sudden 13 percent drop in clerical jobs between 1997 and 1999. In the 2000s, however, the increase resumed.

On the other hand, service and sales workers saw their share falling in the 2000s. The share of machine operators, assemblers and manual workers is also stagnating at around 33 percent. These indicate the deteriorating position of low-skilled workers.

Source : SaKong, Il and Koh, Youngsun, 2010. The Korean Economy Six Decades of Growth and Development. Seoul: Korea Development Institute.