Employment in South Korea’s second tier cities picks up

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.
By: | August 27, 2021
Topics: Job Cuts | News | Recruitment | South Korea

Employment in South Korea’s minor cities and counties in 77 smaller cities across nine provinces totalled 13.1 million as of end-April, rising 3.6% year-on-year as the economy recovers, according to data by Statistics Korea. 

The unemployment rate for minor cities reached 3.5%, declining 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier, while the unemployment rate in counties stayed flat at 1.5%. 

The data, which excludes Seoul and seven other major cities, showed that South Korea’s job market is recovering from the turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Since July, it has reported job additions for the fifth consecutive month since July. Last month, the number of employed totalled 27.65 million, an increase of 542,000 year-on-year. 

READ: South Koreans worked 200 more hours then OECD average last year

However, the job growth rate slowed in July from the preceding month as employment in the face-to-face service segments was impacted by tighter restrictions, imposed to tackle the surge in COVID-19 cases.

As of Wednesday, the country has 425 critical COVID-19 patients, a drastic jump from that of 155 on July 7.