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Source: Yonhap

South Korea added 183,000 jobs in June, marking the sixth straight month of employment growth. However, the country’s key industrial sectors—manufacturing and construction—continued to shed jobs for over a year, and the youth employment rate declined for the 14th consecutive month.

According to Statistics Korea’s “June Employment Trends” released on July 16, the number of employed people aged 15 and older stood at 29.09 million last month, up 183,000 from a year earlier.

The job market maintained its upward momentum since January, with monthly gains of 135,000 (Jan), 136,000 (Feb), 193,000 (Mar), 194,000 (Apr), and 245,000 (May).

By industry, employment increased in healthcare and social welfare services (+216,000), professional, scientific and technical services (+102,000), and education services (+72,000).

In contrast, the manufacturing sector lost 83,000 jobs, marking its 12th straight month of decline since July last year. Construction fared even worse, shedding 97,000 jobs in June—its 14th consecutive monthly decrease since May 2023.

Gong Mi-sook, head of social statistics at Statistics Korea, noted, “The decline in manufacturing jobs was less severe than in March and April, but still slightly worsened compared to last month. Much will depend on trade and tariff negotiations going forward.”

By age group, the number of employed people aged 60 and over rose by 348,000 to 7.04 million, and those in their 30s increased by 116,000. However, employment declined by 152,000 among people in their 20s, 55,000 in their 40s, and 53,000 in their 50s.

Notably, employment among young people aged 15–29 dropped by 173,000 year-on-year.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and older rose by 0.1 percentage points to 63.6%. Based on the OECD standard (ages 15–64), the employment rate reached 70.3%, up 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier. However, the youth employment rate (ages 15–29) fell by 1.0 percentage point to 45.6%, continuing its 14-month decline.