August Employment Rises by 184,000...Largest Increase in Five Months (Update)

Yonhap News Agency

The number of employed people increased by nearly 200,000 last month, marking the largest gain in five months.

According to the "August Employment Trends" released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on September 9, the number of employed people aged 15 and over stood at 29,151,000 last month, an increase of 184,000 compared to the same month last year.

The number of employed had been increasing by between 100,000 and 200,000 from January to March this year, but the growth slowed to 74,000 in April, and in May, the figure fell by 40,000. Afterwards, the figure rebounded with a rise of 63,000 in June, and moved back into the 100,000 range in July with an increase of 108,000. Last month’s rise in the number of employed was the largest since March (206,000) in five months.

By industry, the number of people employed in manufacturing fell by 38,000, marking a decline for the 26th consecutive month. However, the rate of decrease continues to narrow. The number of people employed in construction also shrank by 32,000, though this was a smaller decrease than the previous month.

The accommodation and food service sector, a key domestic demand industry, saw a decrease of 61,000 employed people, the largest drop in 13 months. The Ministry of Data and Statistics explained that this was due to a base effect from the recovery coupons issued for everyday living last year.

The number of employed people among youths aged 15 to 29 fell by 143,000, continuing a declining trend for 46 consecutive months, but the decline slowed.

The youth employment rate fell by 1.0 percentage point to 44.1%. This marked a decline for the 28th consecutive month.

The total number of unemployed stood at 588,000, which is 4,000 fewer than the same month last year. The unemployment rate was 2.0%, the same as a year ago.

The economically inactive population increased by 77,000 to 16,297,000, but within this, the number of people classified as “taking a break” decreased by 89,000.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.