Record-High Employment Rate Last Year... Construction, Manufacturing, and Youth Slump Persist (Comprehensive)

Last year, both the employment rate (69.8%) and the labor force participation rate (71.8%) reached all-time highs. Overall employment indicators showed an upward trend and improved compared to government forecasts. However, there were clear disparities by industry and age group. The number of employed persons in the manufacturing and construction sectors declined significantly, and the employment rate among young people continued to fall. The number of people in their 30s who were not working reached a record high of 309,000.

According to the “December 2025 and Annual Employment Trends” released by the National Data Agency on January 14, the number of employed persons aged 15 and over last year was 28,769,000, an increase of 193,000 compared to the previous year. This is a larger increase than the previous year’s figure of 159,000. However, it remains in the 100,000 range, which is lower than the increases seen in recent years, such as 327,000 in 2023 and 816,000 in 2022.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and over was 62.9%, up 0.2 percentage points. This is the highest level since relevant statistics began in 1963. The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64, based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standard, also rose by 0.3 percentage points to 69.8%, the highest since related statistics began in 1989. The unemployment rate for those aged 15 and over remained unchanged from the previous year at 2.8%. The unemployment rate has hovered in the high 2% range since 2022 (2.9%).

The labor force participation rate was 71.8% for those aged 15 to 64 and 64.7% for those aged 15 and over, both marking the highest levels since statistics began. The labor force participation rate has maintained an upward trend in recent years. The participation rate for those aged 15 to 64 surpassed 70% in 2022 (70.5%) and has remained in the 71% range since 2023 (71.1%).

An official from the Ministry of Economy and Finance stated, "It is a positive sign that employment indicators were better than the government's forecast in August last year," and added, "Since the launch of the new administration, various policy efforts have been made to boost domestic demand, and we believe these have had an effect." However, the official also explained, "Weakness in the construction and manufacturing sectors, as well as among young people, has persisted," and noted, "Measures need to be devised to address these issues."

In fact, last year, the number of employed persons in the construction sector fell by 125,000, while manufacturing saw a decrease of 73,000. These are the largest declines since 2013 for construction and 2019 for manufacturing. The employment rate among young people (aged 15-29) dropped by 1.1 percentage points to 45.0%, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 6.1%, indicating continued difficulties. The number of young people not working (428,000) was the second highest since 2020 (448,000). The number of people in their 30s not working reached a record high of 309,000 since related statistics began.

Looking only at December last year, the number of employed persons was 28,209,000, an increase of 168,000 compared to the same month the previous year. There were increases in health and social welfare services (220,000), transportation and warehousing (72,000), and arts, sports, and leisure-related services (55,000), while the number of employed persons decreased in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (-117,000), construction (-63,000), and manufacturing (-63,000).

Last month, the employment rate for those aged 15 and over was 61.5%, up 0.1 percentage points. The OECD-standard employment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 69.6%, the highest since related statistics began in 1989. The unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 4.1%, marking the highest December figure since December 2000 (4.4%) in 25 years. The labor force participation rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 64.1%, the highest December figure since 1999.