Labor ministry reports September job growth as manufacturing turns up

The labor ministry said Friday that South Korea's employment rose by 113,000 in September from a year earlier, the third consecutive month of double-digit gains.

First Vice Finance Minister Kwon Dae-young and Employment and Labor Vice Minister Kwon Chang-joon chaired the 11th inter-agency jobs task force at the Government Complex Seoul, where officials reviewed the September employment data and discussed ways to support the labor market.

The closely watched manufacturing sector reversed direction, adding 16,000 jobs after shedding 38,000 the month before, its first increase in 27 months. Construction and services weakened: construction's decline widened to 48,000 from 32,000, and services' increase narrowed to 221,000 from 345,000. The ministry attributed the broader deceleration to a high base effect from a year earlier.

Permanent and regular positions led the gains, adding 253,000 from a year earlier, up sharply from a 180,000 increase the previous month, while temporary and daily work continued to decline. The youth employment rate fell 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier, slightly steeper than the 1.0 percentage-point drop in August. The number of young people classified as "resting" fell for an eighth straight month. Officials flagged the possibility of new downward pressure from rising tensions in the Middle East.

At the meeting, the ministry laid out plans to move forward with three core social policy priorities in the jobs sector. The government said it will step up monitoring of struggling industries and pursue measures ranging from industrial revitalization and workforce training to job and startup expansion, better working conditions and a stronger employment base.

"We will swiftly draw up a plan to carry out the National Jobs Project, which includes private and public jobs and sufficient training opportunities, by mobilizing all the relevant ministries' capabilities, and we will actively seek out new policies beyond expanding existing measures," Vice Finance Minister Kwon said, adding that the goal is for the fruits of economic growth to reach people's daily lives.

"We will actively push ahead with the National Jobs Project together with the related ministries so that more people have opportunities to work and can feel the warmth of the job market," Employment Vice Minister Kwon said.