3월 취업자 19만5천명↓…2009년 5월 이래 최대 감소

A clearer picture is emerging of the economic fallout hitting South Korea as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
South Korea's latest job report is out.
It shows the outbreak has had a devastating effect on the local employment market.
Even prior to the outbreak, the employment prospects were looking grim, but the pandemic has twisted the knife on an already painful situation.
For more, we have our Kim Jae-hee on the line for us.
Jae-hee, not unexpected at all,... but bad news all the same.
Se-min, South Korea's saw the biggest decline in the number of jobs last month in almost eleven years.
March's fall was largely attributed to the global coronavirus outbreak,... which has already caused immense damage to the world economy.
According to Statistics Korea on Friday, the number of employed people in South Korea in March fell to some 26-point-six million.
That's down around 195-thousand compared to the same month last year,... marking the largest on-year fall since May 2009.
The employment rate for those aged between 15 to 64, was at 65-point-four percent, down point-eight percentage points compared to last year.
The employment rate for those aged between 15 and 29 also fell.
It was 41 percent,... down one-point-nine percentage points.
But the elderly 65 and older saw an increase of point-nine percentage points to 32-point-8 percent.
Despite the fall in the number of jobs,... the unemployment rate actually decreased point-1 percentage point on-year in March, to 4-point-2 percent.
This means this fallout is taking a toll on all corners of the economy,... not just on trade and business front.
Following the release of the Statistics Korea report South Korea's finance chief Hong Nam-ki said this morning that the government is working on a package of measures to reinvigorate the nation's job market at this difficult time.
That's all I have at this hour, but I'll be back with more updates in our later newscast.
Back to you.