By Kang Seung-woo
The nation’s job market continued on its recovery pace in September on the back of an economic rebound with nearly 250,000 new jobs created. But the youth employment rate still remained sluggish.
Statistics Korea said Wednesday that the jobless rate was 3.4 percent last month, slightly up from the previous month’s tally of 3.3 percent, with the manufacturing and non-public sector increasing the number of jobs and offsetting losses in the temporary employment sector.
The fourth-largest Asian economy put the unemployment rate under 4 percent for the sixth straight month since it sank from 4.1 percent in March to 3.8 percent in April. The rate hit a 10-year high of 5 percent in January.
“Jobs in the public sector, which covers administrative support, national defense and welfare, decreased by 196,000 last month, but this was offset by 445,000 positions created by private businesses that required more workers to meet both local and overseas demands,” said Eun Sun-hyun, head of the statistical office’s social statistics division.
The number of people who found jobs last month increased by 249,000 to 24.05 million from a year earlier.
Although the growth number of employment year-on-year fell below the 300,000 mark for the first time since March, the government said that it does not mean a recovery in the job market is losing momentum, citing seasonal factors.
“Due to the Chuseok holiday, the number of day laborers in the construction industry declined, but the manufacturing and other sectors showed steady gains,” said Yoon Jong-won, director general of economic policy at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
“In October, the number will climb back to the 300,000 level.”
Meanwhile, the report showed that the unemployment rate for the youth aged between 15 and 29 reached 7.2 percent last month, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous month. According to the report, more regular jobs were created in the cited month although nearly 200,000 temporary positions were lost.
By industry, the number employed in manufacturing and construction rose 6.6 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, while the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industry and the wholesale and retail and restaurant and hotel sectors sank 3.2 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. The government forecast the Korean economy to grow 5.8 percent this year.