The number of employed people in their 40s decreased with an overall decline in the size of the age group.

According to data from Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the number of people in their 40s marked seven million-909-thousand as of November, down 139-thousand from a year earlier, to fall by the most in four years and three months since August 2019, when it slipped 141-thousand.

The total of those in the age group declined 120-thousand on-year during the first eleven months to post the second-largest drop among all age brackets after the population aged 15 to 29, which contracted 178-thousand.

As the size of the age group decreases, the number of employed people is also decreasing.

The number of working people in their 40s decreased 62-thousand on-year to mark six million-254-thousand in November, the lowest in two decades since 2003 when it stood at six million-172-thousand.