The number of jobs in South Korea totaled 28.48 million in July, up 826,000 from a year earlier. It has thus risen for the 17th month in a row.
The July number was the largest increase in July since 2000, when the number of jobs increased by 1.03 million on a year-over-year basis.
Job growth slowed for the second consecutive month amid increasing economic uncertainty. July’s figures were lower than the year-on-year increase of 935,000 jobs in May and 841,000 jobs in June.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in South Korea fell by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year to 2.9% in July. The number of unemployed fell by 84,000 to 836,000.
The manufacturing sector posted its strongest job growth in nearly seven years. Compared with a year earlier, 176,000 new jobs were applied for, the ninth consecutive month of increases.
The hospitality industry reported that employment increased for the third consecutive month in July, with a year-over-year increase of 54,000 jobs.