Employment Increased by Only 80,000 in May... Youth Unemployment Rate Up by 0.9%P (Update)

Statistics Korea, May Employment Trends

The increase in the number of employed persons last month was limited to 80,000, marking the smallest growth in 39 months.

According to the 'May Employment Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 12th, the number of employed persons aged 15 and over last month was 28,915,000, an increase of 80,000 compared to the same month last year. This is the smallest increase in 40 months since a decrease of 473,000 in February 2021. The employment increase had returned to growth last month after three months, recovering to the 200,000 range, but fell below 100,000 again after just one month.

By age group, employment increased by 265,000 among those aged 60 and over, 74,000 in their 30s, and 27,000 in their 50s, but decreased by 168,000 in their 20s and 114,000 in their 40s.

By industry, employment increased in health and social welfare services (94,000), accommodation and food services (80,000), and transportation and warehousing (49,000). Conversely, it decreased in wholesale and retail trade (-73,000), business facility management, business support and rental services (-64,000), and construction (-47,000).

Seo Woon-ju, Director of the Social Statistics Bureau at Statistics Korea, explained, "The increase in employment in health and welfare and accommodation and food services continued due to rising care demand and domestic tourist inflow, but the growth was limited due to the number of public holidays."

By employment status, among wage workers, permanent workers increased by 75,000 and temporary workers by 249,000, while daily workers decreased by 116,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and over was 63.5%, the same as one year ago. This is the highest May figure since related statistics began in 1987.

The OECD comparison standard employment rate for ages 15 to 64 was 70.0%, up 0.1 percentage points from the same month last year. The youth employment rate (ages 15 to 29) was 46.9%, down 0.7 percentage points from the same month last year.

The unemployment rate was 3.0%, up 0.3 percentage points from the same month last year. The number of unemployed was 884,000, an increase of 97,000 (12.3%) compared to the same month last year. The number of unemployed increased among those aged 60 and over (26,000) and those in their 20s (21,000). The youth unemployment rate was 6.7%, up 0.9 percentage points from the same month last year.

The economically inactive population decreased by 12,000 (-0.1%) from one year ago, recording 15,744,000. By gender, the number of men was 5,847,000, an increase of 63,000 (1.1%) compared to the same month last year, while the number of women was 9,897,000, a decrease of 75,000 (-0.8%).