The amount of allowances paid out to those seeking jobs surpassed 1 trillion won for the first time in May, data from the Employment and Labor Ministry showed. The job seeking allowance system first began in 1995. It takes up most of the unemployment allowance.

The figure reached 1.162 trillion won, up 33.9 percent from the same month last year, driven by a rise in the number of jobless amid the coronavirus pandemic.

There were 111,000 new applicants to receive the allowance last month, up 32.1 percent on-year.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)