The number of people who've given up on finding a job in South Korea so-called discouraged workers surged to an all-time high last year.
According to an analysis by Yonhap News Agency, there were some 62-thousand people in South Korea who wanted a job but did not look for one for more than four weeks because they thought they wouldn't be able to get one.
That was the highest figure since data were first compiled in 2014.
The number of people who were unemployed for more than six months last year also increased to 130-thousand, with around half being those in their 20s to 30s.
This suggests that while the country's unemployment rate dropped last year, the long term unemployment issue has gotten more serious.
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