South Korea’s labour market recovers with 582,000 jobs added

The number of new jobs grew 314,000 in March, 652,000 in April and 619,000 in May year-on-year. March’s figure was the first job growth in 13 months, while April’s figure represented the largest growth in almost seven years.  

Data compiled by Statistics Korea also showed that the number of employed people reached 27,637,000 last month, 582,000 more than a year earlier. 

The number of those unemployed was 1,093,000 in June, down 136,000 year-on-year.  The overall jobless rate declined 0.5 percentage points year-on-year to 3.8% last month. For young adults aged between 15 and 29, the unemployment rate fell 1.8 percentage points year-on-year to 8.9%. 

The number of economically inactive people, those who have no willingness to work, declined for the fourth consecutive month to 16,339,000, falling 154,000 year-on-year last month. 

Despite the overall job growth, sectors affected by the pandemic remained in a slump. The wholesale and retail sector saw the number of jobs falling by 164,000 in June, larger than the decline of 136,000 the previous month, while the arts, sports and leisure segment reported a fall of 43,000 jobs year-on-year. The manufacturing sector also witnessed a decline of 10,000 jobs in June, marking the first job losses in three months. 

READ: South Korea raises minimum wage for 2022

However, the accommodation and food service segment reported job additions for the third straight month, with a gain of 12,000 jobs year-on-year last month, according to The Korea Times.