Statistics Korea, August Employment Trends
On the 12th, job seekers visiting the Seoul Western Employment Welfare Plus Center in Mapo-gu, Seoul, received consultations on unemployment benefits and employment. According to the "July Employment Trends" announced by Statistics Korea on the same day, the number of employed people last month was 27,106,000, a decrease of 277,000 compared to a year ago. This marks the fifth consecutive month of decline, the longest streak in 11 years since the global financial crisis caused an eight-month consecutive decrease from January to August 2009. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
The increase in the number of employed persons last month remained in the 100,000 range for the second consecutive month. This was a contraction compared to the previous month (172,000) due to a decrease in jobs in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
According to the 'August Employment Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 11th, the number of employed persons aged 15 and over last month was 28,801,000, an increase of 123,000 (0.4%) compared to the same month last year.
The employment growth, which exceeded 300,000 at the beginning of the year, fell below 100,000 for two consecutive months in May (80,000) and June (96,000), then recovered to the 100,000 range from July (172,000) onward.
By industry, employment increased in information and communication (101,000), professional, scientific and technical services (94,000), and transportation and warehousing (94,000), while it decreased in construction (-84,000), wholesale and retail trade (-55,000), and agriculture, forestry and fishing (-40,000).
The number of employed persons in construction decreased by 84,000 compared to the same month last year, marking the largest decline since the 10th industrial classification revision in 2013.
By employment status, among wage workers, permanent workers increased by 99,000 and temporary workers by 191,000, but daily workers decreased by 101,000.
Among non-wage workers, self-employed persons with employees increased by 26,000, while self-employed persons without employees decreased by 64,000 and unpaid family workers decreased by 28,000.
The employment rate for those aged 15 and over was 63.2%, up 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier. This is the highest figure for August since monthly statistics began in July 1982.
The employment rate for ages 15-64, the OECD comparison standard, was 69.8%, up 0.2 percentage points from the same month last year. The youth employment rate (ages 15-29) was 46.7%, down 0.3 percentage points from the same month last year.
The unemployment rate was 1.9%, down 0.1 percentage points compared to a year ago. The number of unemployed persons was 564,000, a decrease of only 9,000 compared to the same month last year. Unemployed persons decreased in their 20s (-26,000) and 40s (-12,000).
Youth unemployment decreased by 23,000 compared to a year ago, and the youth unemployment rate was 4.1%, down 0.4 percentage points from the same month last year.
The economically inactive population was 16,211,000, an increase of 48,000 (0.3%) compared to a year ago. By gender, the number of men was 6,136,000, up 165,000 (2.8%) compared to the same month last year, while the number of women was 10,075,000, down 117,000 (-1.1%).
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