The number of long-term unemployed people reached an 18-year high in the first half of this year.

According to Statistics Korea data, people who have been searching for a job for over six months numbered an average 144-thousand every month between January and June, up by around 17-thousand from the same period last year.

This first-half figure is the highest since 146-thousand long-term jobseekers were recorded in 2000.

Many Koreans are also giving up on the job search. 

Their number recorded a monthly average of 501-thousand during the first six months, the highest since records began in 2014.

Amid aggravating employment conditions, the government has lowered its projection on the growth in the number of employed to 180-thousand for this year, which is nearly half its previous forecast of 320-thousand issued at the end of last year.

The readjusted forecast is the lowest in nine years, since the 2009 projection that came in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.