Seoul: South Korea added 184,000 jobs in August from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday, marking the largest increase in five months, while employment conditions remained challenging for young people. The number of employed people came to 29.15 million in August, compared with 28.97 million a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the increase is the largest since 206,000 jobs were added on-year in March. This marks the third consecutive month of job gains, despite a sluggish manufacturing sector. Job growth turned positive again in June after declining by 40,000 in May, which was the first drop in 17 months. The country's jobless rate remained steady at 2 percent, unchanged from a year earlier. The number of unemployed people totaled 588,000 in August, down 4,000 from the same month in the previous year.
South Korea's employment rate for those aged 15 and above remained unchanged at 63.3 percent from the previous year. However, the employment rate for people aged 15 to 29 dropped to 44.1 percent, down 1 percentage point from a year earlier, marking the 28th consecutive month of decline. Conversely, the employment rate for those aged 30 to 39 increased to 81.1 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier.
The manufacturing sector saw a loss of 38,000 jobs, marking the 26th consecutive month of decline. Additionally, the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industry lost 109,000 jobs, and the construction industry shed 32,000 jobs. The accommodation and restaurant sector saw a decline of 61,000 jobs, attributed to the base effect from the distribution of government vouchers last year.
In contrast, the healthcare and social welfare sector added 186,000 positions, while the arts, sports, and recreation-related services sector added 73,000 jobs. Bin Hyun-joon, a senior statistics official, noted that jobs in sectors popular among young people, such as manufacturing, declined, leading to an overall decrease in employment for this age group. Amid declining employment rates among young people, more individuals in this age group applied for police and local civil service examinations during the survey period.
The number of economically inactive people rose by 77,000 from a year earlier to 16.29 million. Meanwhile, the number of people reporting that they were not working and were simply resting fell by 89,000 to 2.55 million. The data ministry indicated that those who had previously been resting gradually began looking for jobs, leading to their classification as unemployed.