Unemployment suffers from a “new recession” under the pandemic, the female suicide rate is rising in South Korea
China News Service, November 13th. According to South Korea’s “Joongang Ilbo”, many people lost their jobs and suffered from depression due to Coronavirus pandemic. Statistics show that in 2020, the rate of South Korean women experiencing depressive symptoms has increased, and the number of suicides has also increased.
Because her company was in business difficulties due to the impact of coronavirus pandemic, 21-year-old South Korean woman Lin Yaying (pseudonym) received a dismissal notice in July. After that, she failed to apply for many jobs, and gradually suffered from depression, her whole body became weak, and her heart rate accelerated in crowded places, and she developed anxiety. Faced with this situation, she did not seek help from the people around her, but chose to commit suicide. Fortunately, she was rescued in time by her family members.
Hong Jinpyo, a professor in the Department of Mental Health Medicine at Samsung Seoul Hospital, said that “the number of female patients who revealed that they are experiencing depression has increased by about 30% in 2020”, and “many people have lost their jobs during the pandemic and are unable to re-employ them.” . In other words, “coronavirus depression” has evolved into a serious social phenomenon.
On November 11, statistics from the Korean Statistics Agency showed that from January to August 2020, a total of 8,566 people (preliminary statistics) in South Korea committed suicide, a decrease of 7% compared with the same period in 2019 (9,180). The number of male suicides decreased from 6,592 to 5,933 people, a decrease of 11%, but the number of female suicides increased from 2,588 to 2,633, an increase of nearly 2%.
Experts believe that “women, as the vulnerable group in coronavirus pandemic, are the first to be hit.”
On October 22, Lee Loyeon, representative of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated at the National Women’s Conference that “women are more disadvantaged in terms of the stability and structure of employment and are vulnerable to the impact of coronavirus pandemic.” “In the workplace, women are more vulnerable. Vulnerable to attack”, expressed concern about the current situation.
According to data from the Korea Institute for Women’s Policy, in September, the number of female employees in South Korea fell by 283,000 (2.4%), which is 3.4 times that of men (0.7%).
