Finance ministry reports July 108,000 employment increase after four-month gap

The finance ministry said that South Korea added 108,000 jobs in July from a year earlier, its first double-digit increase in four months, citing continued services growth and a slower pace of losses in manufacturing and construction.

Service employment rose by 295,000 from a year earlier, with health and welfare, public administration, and financial and insurance activities contributing to the gain. The decline in professional, scientific and technical services narrowed.

Manufacturing employment fell by 68,000 from a year earlier and construction employment dropped 57,000. The ministry attributed the smaller losses in the two industries to strong exports of automobiles and machinery and improved construction output, respectively. Employment in agriculture, forestry and fisheries fell by 80,000, and the ministry cited aging among structural factors in the decline.

The economic activity participation rate was 65.0 percent, unchanged from a year earlier, while the unemployment rate was 2.6 percent, up 0.2 percentage point.

The employment rate for people aged 15 and over was 63.3 percent, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier. Rates rose for people in their 40s and 50s, were unchanged for those in their 30s and edged lower for people 60 or older. The youth employment rate continued to decline, although the number of young people taking a break was 367,000, down 69,000 from a year earlier, for a sixth consecutive monthly decline.

Continuing Middle East tensions and adverse weather conditions including heat waves could weigh on employment, the ministry warned.

The government will soon announce a youth employment-recovery plan. It will use a job task force for manufacturing and construction to develop support measures including workforce training and job and start-up opportunities.