As of June, Employment Rate for Those Aged 15 and Older Reaches 59.0%
Employment Rate for Ages 15-64 Climbs to 68.5%, Both on the Rise
Aggressive Investment Attraction and Talent Development Drive Results
Busan's employment indicators have reached record highs, with the number of regular employees surpassing one million for the first time.
On July 16, the Busan Metropolitan Government (Mayor Park Hyungjoon) announced that as of June this year, the region's employment indicators are showing stable improvement. Key indicators such as the employment rate, the number of regular employees, and the number of employed persons have all reached all-time highs, demonstrating a clear recovery trend.
According to the "June 2025 Employment Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the same day, Busan's employment rate for those aged 15 and older stood at 59.0%, up 0.7 percentage points from the same month last year. This figure surpasses the previous record of 58.8% set in 2002, when the city benefited from the World Cup and Asian Games, making it the highest ever. The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 also reached a record high of 68.5%.
The total number of employed persons is also on the rise. In June, Busan recorded 1,717,000 employed persons, an increase of 15,000 compared to the same month last year. This marks the fifth consecutive month of growth since February.
In particular, the number of regular employees reached 1,003,000, surpassing one million for the first time ever. This figure represents an increase of 63,000 (6.7%) from the previous year, the largest increase among the seven major metropolitan cities. In contrast, the number of non-wage workers (self-employed and unpaid family workers) fell by 36,000 to 318,000 compared to the previous year, indicating that self-employed individuals are transitioning to more stable wage employment.
Manufacturing employment also showed notable results. While nationwide manufacturing employment continues to decline, Busan saw the number of manufacturing workers increase by 12,000 year-on-year to 240,000 in June. Along with the service sector, this is seen as driving the overall increase in employment.
The city attributes this employment recovery to aggressive investment attraction and talent development policies. In the first half of this year alone, Busan attracted investments totaling approximately 3 trillion won, bringing the cumulative total under the eighth popularly elected administration to 14 trillion won. The city has succeeded in attracting research and development (R&D) centers from major corporations such as Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries, focusing on job creation centered on the knowledge service industry.
The research and development (R&D) sector is also growing. Over the past two years, 423.7 billion won has been invested in R&D, and Busan has undertaken 34.5% of marine and fisheries artificial intelligence (AI) projects, achieving results comparable to the Seoul metropolitan area. The "Busan Digital Innovation Academy," which aims to nurture high-level talent for the digital industry, is operating with a goal of training 10,000 people by 2026.
Mayor Park Hyungjoon emphasized, "We will continue to strengthen effective job policies that connect companies, youth, and middle-aged workers to boost private sector employment vitality in the region," and added, "We will solidify the employment safety net and create a job ecosystem led by the private sector."
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