S. Koreans face tougher economic difficulties

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Koreans' economic suffering intensified this year from 2008 due to surging consumer prices and higher joblessness, a private think tank said Wednesday.
The country's so-called misery index, calculated by adding the unemployment rate to the consumer inflation rate, averaged 8.1 percent in the first eight months of this year, Hyundai Research Institute said.
The figure is higher than the monthly median of 7.8 percent for 2008 when the world was in the financial maelstrom sparked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The comparable figure for 2009 was 6.4 percent.
After bottoming out at 7.3 percent in May, the misery index rose for three months on end with the reading hitting 8.3 percent in August, the think tank said.
"The misery index rose this year due mainly to surging international commodity prices and a spike in local farm product prices," the institute said. "A weak global economic recovery also played a part."
South Korea's misery index, however, was lower than most advanced economies, ranking 22nd among 27 comparable member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the think tank said.
Spain reported the highest misery index of 24.3 percent, followed by Greece with 19.5 percent, Slovakia with 17 percent, Ireland with 16.9 percent and Portugal with 16 percent. The United States placed 10th with 12 percent, while Japan logged the lowest figure of 4.4 percent.
In the January-August period of this year, South Korea's jobless rate averaged 3.6 percent, the second lowest after Norway's 3.3 percent, but its consumer inflation rate stood at 4.5 percent, the second highest after Turkey's 5.5 percent, the institute said.
elly@yna.co.kr
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