Employment Increased in July but Growth Slowed Due to '4th Wave of COVID-19' (Update)

Employment Trends in July 2021

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] The number of employed people increased by about 540,000 last month. However, the growth rate has slowed for three consecutive months. As the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic intensified, the employment market appears to have been hit once again.

According to the 'Employment Trends for July 2021' released by Statistics Korea on the 11th, the total number of employed people last month was 27,648,000, an increase of 542,000 compared to the same month last year. The employment rate for those aged 15 and over also rose by 0.8 percentage points to 61.3%.

The number of employed people has increased for five consecutive months since March, when it rose by 314,000. However, looking at the growth rate, it has slowed for three consecutive months after increasing by 652,000 in April, 619,000 in May, and 582,000 in June.

Although the total number of employed people increased, examining employment by industry shows that employment in wholesale and retail trade decreased by 186,000, and accommodation and food services, which had been recovering until last month, decreased by 12,000, turning to a downward trend. This is believed to be due to the impact of the fourth wave of COVID-19, which began to spread in earnest last month.

Jung Dong-myeong, Director of the Social Statistics Bureau at Statistics Korea, explained, "The slight slowdown in the increase of employed people is due to the expansion of the decrease in wholesale and retail trade and the shift to a decline in accommodation and food services, caused by the increase in online transactions and the strengthening of social distancing to level 4, which tightened quarantine rules. Additionally, the unusually severe heatwave somewhat reduced the growth in the construction industry."

The total number of unemployed people was 920,000, down 218,000 compared to the same month a year ago. This is the lowest figure since July 2014 (914,000) for the same month. The unemployment rate fell by 0.8 percentage points to 3.2%.