Korea adds 171,000 jobs in July, yet manufacturing, construction sectors remain weak

Job seekers look over a recruitment board at a job fair in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, July 9. Yonhap

Korea added more than 170,000 jobs in July, but employment losses continued in the manufacturing and construction sectors, data showed Wednesday.

The number of employed people stood at 29.03 million last month, up 171,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The July figure highlights a continued upward trend in employment following a brief contraction in December, when the country saw a net loss of 52,000 positions.

Since then, the labor market has shown signs of modest recovery, posting a double-digit growth for seven consecutive months by adding 245,000 jobs in May before slightly easing to 183,000 in June.

Despite the overall growth, the manufacturing and construction sectors remained sluggish.

The manufacturing sector, often considered the backbone of the Korean economy, shed 78,000 jobs from a year earlier in July, extending its downturn to a 13th consecutive month.

The construction industry also continued to struggle, losing 92,000 jobs last month to continue its decline for the 15th straight month.

Yet, the pace of job losses in both sectors eased slightly compared with the previous month.

The agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector also saw a significant decline, shedding 127,000 jobs to mark the fourth consecutive month of job losses exceeding the 100,000 mark.

The agency attributed the decline to abnormal weather conditions, along with the structural decline in the number of farming and fishing households.

In contrast, several service sectors posted solid gains.

Employment in public health and social welfare rose by 263,000, while the science and technology services sector added 91,000 jobs.

July's overall job growth was largely driven by hiring among older adults.

Employment among those aged 60 and older surged by 342,000 from a year earlier, while jobs for people in their 30s rose by 93,000.

In contrast, younger age groups saw notable declines.

Jobs for people in their 20s fell by 130,000, while those in their 40s decreased by 56,000. Statistics Korea noted that these age groups are also experiencing population declines, contributing to the employment drop.

The employment rate for people aged 15-64 edged up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier to 70.2 percent in July.

However, the employment rate for those aged 15 to 29 stood at 45.8 percent, down 0.6 percentage point on-year.

The number of economically inactive people went up by 8,000 from a year earlier to 16 million as of end-July.

Among them, the number of people who reported being out of work simply to rest rose by 2.8 percent, or 69,000 people, according to the agency.