SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Xinhua/APP): The number of South Korea’s non-wage workers fell this year due to a sharp reduction in self-employed without employees, statistical ministry data showed Wednesday.
The number of non-wage workers, including self-employed with employees, self-employed without employees and unpaid family workers, totaled 6,554,000 in August, down 103,000 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
The number of self-employed who hired paid workers shed 5,000 to 1,435,000 in the cited period, while the figure for self-employed without paid workers tumbled 65,000 to 4,241,000.
The self-employed without employees is also called own-account workers including farmers, fishermen, freelancers, artists, vendors and peddlers.
The number of unpaid family workers, who worked without formal pay in a business run by a family member, shrank 33,000 to 879,000 in August on a yearly basis.
Of the total non-wage workers, those in their 60s and higher took the highest portion of 41.1 percent, followed by those in their 50s with 26.3 percent and those in their 40s with 19.1 percent.
By industry, the agricultural, forestry and fishery sector recorded the highest portion of 20.9 percent, trailed by the wholesale and retail sector with 16.7 percent and the lodging and eatery sector with 13.5 percent.