Increase in Unemployment Benefit Repeat Recipients, Controversy Over Maximum 24 Payments

The number of individuals receiving unemployment benefits (job seeker benefits) repeatedly is steadily increasing, leading to growing concerns over fiscal soundness and moral hazard.

Amidst this, cases have emerged where one individual has received unemployment benefits 24 times or has received nearly 100 million won over 20 payments, predicting ongoing social controversy.

According to data submitted to the National Assembly's Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 16th, the number of people who received unemployment benefits more than twice is 490,000, accounting for 28.9% of all recipients.

The proportion of repeat unemployment benefit recipients increased by 4.2 percentage points from 24.7% in 2020 to 28.9% in 2024.

Specifically, the figures are 421,000 (24.7%) in 2020, 446,000 (25.1%) in 2021, 436,000 (26.7%) in 2022, 474,000 (28.3%) in 2023, and 490,000 (28.9%) in 2024, showing a consistent upward trend.

Need for Improvement in the System and Issues with Misuse

Particularly shocking is the confirmation of a case where one recipient received unemployment benefits a total of 24 times. Furthermore, one recipient was found to have received 96.61 million won over 20 payments.

The increase in repeat recipients is attributed to a lack of stable, quality jobs, alongside an increase in recipients who intentionally engage in short-term work to claim unemployment benefits.

Issues related to misuse are also at a serious level. In the past five years, there have been 121,221 cases of identified misuse of unemployment benefits, amounting to 140.9 billion won.

On average, this translates to about 24,000 cases and approximately 28 billion won yearly.

Even more concerning is the fact that the amount of unrecouped misuse sums to 41.3 billion won.

Representative Kim Seung-Soo stated, "There are ongoing cases where individuals repeatedly take short-term work while continuously collecting unemployment benefits or acquire them through dishonest means, undermining the original intent of the system. Misuse of unemployment benefits leads to leakage in the insurance fund and deprives legitimate beneficiaries and socially vulnerable groups of their rights, representing a serious social issue."

To address this, Representative Kim emphasized the need for institutional improvements, such as limiting the number of unemployment benefit payments, applying benefit reductions for repeat recipients, and extending the current reference period of 18 months and contribution period of 180 days.

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