[Aju News DB]
A protracted economic slump has invigorated South Korea's lottery market, despite sluggish domestic demand, a high jobless rate and a drop in annual income.
Sales of lottery tickets soared to a 12-year high of 3.56 trillion won (2.96 billion US dollars) last year, up 8.3 percent from 3.29 trillion won the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
The figure was the highest since 2003, when lottery ticket sales reached 4.2 trillion won.
The value of last year's lottery sales accounted for 0.23 percent of the country's gross domestic product, up 0.01 percentage point from a year earlier.
Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 2.6 percent on-year in 2015, down from a 3.3 percent expansion in 2014, hit by falling exports and sluggish domestic demand.
Consumption has been sluggish despite a wave of government steps to shore up a frail economy and create more jobs.
Data from Statistics Korea showed South Korea's jobless rate hit 3.6 percent in 2015, up 0.1 percentage point from a year ago, marking the highest figure since 2010, when it reached 3.7 percent.
Labor market conditions for younger people remained tough last year, with
the unemployment rate for those aged 15-29 reaching a record 9.2 percent, the highest level since 1999.
아주경제 임장원 기자 = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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