Seoul: The number of high-skilled workers in South Korea grew for the fourth consecutive year in 2024, with such jobs in the semiconductor sector increasing by the most, government data showed Wednesday. The total number of industrial technology workers stood at 1.74 million as of end-2024, up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.

According to Yonhap News Agency, industrial technology workers refer to high-skilled employees, such as technicians, manufacturers, IT workers, research and development personnel, and company executives. Last year marked the fourth consecutive year such a workforce grew, according to the data.

Over 60 percent of these high-skilled workers were employed in the country's 12 key industries, including semiconductors, bio, automobiles, defense, and IT. The chip industry experienced the largest on-year growth of such jobs at 4.3 percent, followed by the bio and IT industries at 4 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

High-skilled jobs in the shipbuilding sector grew for the second consecutive year, after declining for eight straight years, the ministry said. In contrast, the high-skilled workforce in the textile sector shrank last year, marking the fifth consecutive year of decline.

The shortage of industrial technology workers relative to business demand was 39,834. The shortage rate stood at 2.2 percent, remaining unchanged since 2020, according to the data.