South Korea plans to spend 5.4 trillion won ($4.1 billion) next year to stabilise its job market as job creation slowed to its lowest level in five years and firms' halt expansion plans amid a weakening economy. The country's labour ministry said in a statement that it would offer job training programmes, create new jobs and expand state financial support for the unemployed.
The ministry sees its programme benefiting 1.74 million people and plans to offer additional measures if market conditions deteriorate further and the number of jobless reaches 1 million. South Korea's unemployment rate rose to a 16-month high of 3.3 percent in November from October's 3.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, with the number of jobless rising to 750,000.