South Korea’s National Bureau of Statistics announced today that the unemployment rate fell to a record low in February. Employment rates rose to the highest level in nearly 22 years, but this was mainly due to the low comparison base and government fiscal spending.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 2.7% in February, its lowest level since the National Bureau of Statistics began collecting labor market data in June 1999, from 3.6% in January.
The number of jobs increased by 1.037 million in February from a year earlier. This was a slower increase than in January, when the increase was 1.135 million, the largest increase since March 2000.
Broken down by sector, the health care and social assistance sector was found to have added 254,000 jobs, accounting for a quarter of the total job growth. Jobs in the transportation and warehousing sector increased by 135,000 in February.
Employment in wholesale and retail trade fell by 47,000 while manufacturing jobs increased by 32,000, albeit less than in January and still at a slow growth rate.