South Korea adds 184,000 jobs in August, largest increase in five months
Quick Look
South Korea added 184,000 jobs year-on-year in August, the largest increase in five months, driven by gains in healthcare and social welfare, while youth employment continued to decline for the 28th consecutive month and manufacturing losses persisted.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
South Korea's labor market showed mixed trends in August, with overall job growth rising to its highest level in five months, but youth employment declining for over two years and key sectors like manufacturing continuing to shed jobs.
By Kang Yoon-seung
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea added 184,000 jobs in August from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday, marking the largest increase in five months, while employment conditions remained challenging for young people.
The number of employed people came to 29.15 million in August, compared with 28.97 million a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
It marked the largest increase since 206,000 jobs were added on-year in March.
It also marked three consecutive months of gains and comes despite the manufacturing sector remaining sluggish. Job growth turned positive again in June after declining by 40,000 in May, the first drop in 17 months.
The country's jobless rate came to 2 percent last month, unchanged from a year earlier. The number of unemployed people totaled 588,000 in August, down 4,000 from the same month in 2025.
South Korea's employment rate for those aged 15 and above came to 63.3 percent, remaining unchanged from the previous year.
The employment rate for people aged 15 to 29, however, came to 44.1 percent, down 1 percentage point from a year earlier, marking the 28th consecutive month of decline.
The employment rate for those aged 30 to 39 stood at 81.1 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier.
By sector, the manufacturing sector lost 38,000 jobs, marking the 26th consecutive month of decline.
The agriculture, forestry and fisheries industry lost 109,000 jobs, and the construction industry shed 32,000 jobs.
The accommodation and restaurant sector shed 61,000 jobs, with the data ministry attributing the decline to the base effect from the distribution of government vouchers last year.
In contrast, the healthcare and social welfare sector added 186,000 positions, while the arts, sports and recreation-related services sector added 73,000 jobs.
"Jobs in sectors popular among young people, such as manufacturing, declined, leading to an overall decrease in the number of employed people in the age group," said Bin Hyun-joon, a senior statistics official.
"Amid the declining employment rate among young people, more people in the age group applied for police and local civil service examinations during the survey period," Bin added.
The number of economically inactive people rose by 77,000 from a year earlier to 16.29 million. The number of people reporting that they were not working and were simply resting, meanwhile, fell by 89,000 to 2.55 million.
The data ministry said those who had previously been simply resting gradually began looking for jobs, leading them to be classified as unemployed.
Open Questions
- What specific policies are being considered to address youth unemployment?
- How long is the manufacturing sector expected to remain sluggish?
- Will the growth in healthcare and social welfare jobs be sustained?
