Korea adds 108,000 new jobs in July; manufacturing employment remains weak

A job seeker reads a recruitment notice board at an industry fair held in Seoul, July 22. Yonhap

Korea added 108,000 jobs in July from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday, marking the second consecutive month of gains, while manufacturing employment continued to remain weak.

The number of employed people came to 29.13 million in July, compared with 29.02 million a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Job growth turned positive again in June, rising by 63,000 after declining by 40,000 in May, the first drop in 17 months.

The country's jobless rate came to 2.6 percent in July, up 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier.

The number of unemployed people totaled 776,000 last month, rising 50,000 from the previous year.

South Korea's total employment rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 63.3 percent, falling for four straight months.

The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 came to 70.3 percent, rising 0.1 percentage point over the period.

The employment rate for those aged 15 to 29, on the other hand, fell 1.6 percentage points to 44.2 percent, declining year-on-year for the 27th consecutive month.

The data also showed the number of employed people aged 15 to 29 fell by 191,000, marking the 45th consecutive month of decline.

The unemployment rate for the age group, on the other hand, rose 1.3 percentage points to 6.8 percent, marking the largest year-on-year increase in more than five years.

The employment rate for South Koreans aged 65 and above came to 41.5 percent, up 0.8 percentage point from a year earlier.

By sector, the number of jobs in the health and social welfare services sector increased by 173,000 from a year earlier, with positions in the arts, sports and recreation-related services sector also rising by 48,000.

Other major gainers included the public administration sector, which added 46,000 jobs over the period.

"During the week when the survey was carried out, there were civil service examinations, along with increased hiring in the public sector, including tax collection agents, farmland surveyors and public-sector interns," Bin Hyun-joon, a senior statistics official, said.

Jobs in the manufacturing sector, in contrast, fell by 68,000 in July from a year earlier, marking the 25th consecutive month of decline. It nevertheless narrowed from a decrease of 97,000 posted in June.

The data added that jobs in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector fell by 80,000, while those in the construction sector slid by 57,000 over the period.

Construction-related jobs lost ground year-on-year for the 27th consecutive month.

The number of economically inactive people rose by 99,000 from a year earlier to 16.1 million. The number of people reporting that they were not working and were simply resting, meanwhile, fell by 62,000 to 2.51 million.

"There are concerns that tensions in the Middle East and related uncertainties, heat waves and unfavorable weather conditions may put downward pressure on the job market," the Ministry of Finance and Economy said in a separate release.

"The government will make all-out efforts through interagency cooperation by thoroughly analyzing employment trends across different sectors and groups in order to stably maintain the recent growth momentum," it added.