September Employment Rises by 113,000... Youth Employment Falls for 47th Consecutive Month (Updated)

September 2026 Employment Trends

The number of employed people increased by more than 110,000 last month, maintaining growth in the 100,000s for three consecutive months. However, employment among young people declined for the 47th consecutive month, prolonging the slump in youth employment.

According to the September 2026 Employment Trends report released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on October 16, the number of employed people aged 15 and older stood at 29,266,000 last month, up 113,000 from a year earlier. Employment continued to grow by more than 100,000 for the third consecutive month, following increases of 108,000 in July and 184,000 in August.

Youth job seekers wait to receive employment consulting at the “Youth-Corporate Matching Day (FREE Cheongnyeon Daero)” held at Seoul City Hall on Sept. 16, 2026. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

The seasonally adjusted number of employed people was 28,985,000, up 40,000 from the previous month. The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 was 70.6%, up 0.2 percentage points from the same month a year earlier. In the third quarter, the number of employed people was 29,184,000, an increase of 135,000 from the same period last year.

By age group, employment rose among older people and those in their 30s, but fell among those in their 20s and 40s. The number of employed people aged 60 and older increased by 172,000, exceeding the overall increase. Employment among people in their 30s and 50s also rose by 81,000 and 48,000, respectively. In contrast, the number of employed people in their 20s fell by 170,000, while the number of those in their 40s declined by 42,000.

Youth employment conditions also worsened. The employment rate for people aged 15 to 29 was 44.0%, down 1.1 percentage points from the same month a year earlier, while the unemployment rate was 5.4%, up 0.6 percentage points. The employment rate for people aged 15 to 34, released for the first time under an amendment to the Special Act on the Promotion of Youth Employment, was 56.1%, down 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

By industry, the number of employed people in human health and social work activities rose by 207,000, the largest increase. Transportation and storage also added 54,000 jobs. Manufacturing employment increased by 16,000, reversing the decline recorded in the previous month. In contrast, employment fell by 97,000 in accommodation and food service activities, 94,000 in agriculture, forestry and fishing, and 48,000 in construction.

By employment status, the number of regular employees increased by 253,000. The number of temporary and daily workers fell by 81,000 and 55,000, respectively, showing differences by type of employment.

The number of unemployed people last month was 600,000, down 34,000 from the same month a year earlier. The unemployment rate was 2.0%, down 0.1 percentage points. In contrast, the economically inactive population grew by 179,000 to 16,188,000. Among them, the number of people who said they were "taking a break" without engaging in any particular activity was 2,497,000, down 25,000.

The expanded unemployment rate, which reflects the broader employment situation, was 7.3%, down 0.6 percentage points. However, the expanded unemployment rate among young people rose by 0.5 percentage points to 15.6%. The number of discouraged job seekers was 368,000, down 1,000 from a year earlier.

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