However, jobs addition fell below 600,000 for the first time in three months, which was attributed to the resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Workers who had graduated from college or high school less than a year ago were found to face more difficulty finding jobs.
There are about 220,000 people working as gig workers for online platforms, which account for 8.5% of the country’s total workers.
Total jobs reached 24.72 million last year, up 710,000, or 2.9% from the previous year, marking the largest jump in job additions since 2016.
The number of irregular workers has increased from 8.5 million to 9.04 million in August, rising 6.35% year-on-year.
The number of paid employee jobs rose 3.6% in the second quarter amid signs of the economy’s recovery from the pandemic.
Small businesses will be compensated for their incurred losses because of COVID-19 restrictions, although some businesses are exempted from this.
Some 29.2% of foreign investment companies with over 300 employees felt most uneasy about the introduction of the workplace disaster law.
The proportion of non-regular workers in the country has also been increasing, rising by 5.5 percentage points from 2017 to 2021.
Over the last four years, five major cities outside Seoul have driven the increase in the proportion of non-regular jobs in the country.
Out of the 38 members of the OECD, South Korea ranks highest in the pay gap between male and female employees in 2020.
The unemployment rate for young adults, aged between 15 and 29, fell by 2.7 percentage points year-to-year to 5.6%.
The sector that saw the largest wage jump include tech firms, while the salaries of workers in the tourism and aviation sectors took a plunge.
The number of people outside the labour force fell 0.6% in August compared to that of 2020, driven by more people wanting to be employed again.
Workers in internet service firms saw their pay rising in the first half of 2021, while those in the travel sector experienced a slump.
Lee Jae-myung believes that the implementation of a four-day workweek will create more jobs and cut working hours in the country.
The proportion of non-regular employees has increased by 2.1 percentage points to 38.4% of the labour force in August year-on-year.
An online survey of 4,476 employees shows that a much higher proportion of women than men prefer to work remotely than at a physical office location.
The number of employed people totaled 27.68 million in September, marking a record high since March 2014, when the figure grew by 726,000.
The country was one out of seven other member countries with employment rates of women staying under 60%, according to the OECD.
Under a new law, business owners and CEOs could face harsher sentences of a minimum one-year prison sentence or up to 1 billion won in fines.
The government plans to let delivery workers and designated drivers benefit from the employment insurance system from next year.
The jobless rate was the lowest since data was published in June 1999, down from July’s jobless rate of 3.3%.
The proportion of listed companies that performed job cuts was down 51.4% from a year earlier, riding on expectations for an economic recovery.
The government also aims to create 4,500 green venture companies specialising in eco-friendly alternative materials and renewable energy.
The gender wage gap, which measures the rate of men’s average pay to that of women, measured 35.9% in 2020.
A survey found that over 43% of companies did not see their level of productivity affected by remote work.
As of end-April, employment in South Korea's minor cities and counties rose by 3.6% year-on-year as the economy continues to recover.
In the region, Australia recorded 1,683 hours per annum, while New Zealand logged 1,739 hours in the year.
The annual wage for employees in South Korea posted US$41,960 on average in 2020, compared to the OECD average of US$49,165.