September Employment Up 113,000... Manufacturing Jobs Increase for First Time in 2 Years and 3 Months

The number of employed persons increased by 113,000 in September, marking a gain in the 100,000 range for the third consecutive month.

While manufacturing employment increased for the first time in two years and three months, jobs in the accommodation and food services sector saw their largest drop in five years and seven months.

According to the September Employment Trends released by Statistics Korea today (the 16th), the number of people aged 15 and older with jobs last month stood at 29.266 million, an increase of 113,000 compared to the same month last year.

The number of employed persons showed an upward trend in the 100,000 to 200,000 range from January to March this year, before the growth slowed to 74,000 in April and dropped by 40,000 in May.

After turning upward with a gain of 63,000 in June and climbing back to the 100,000 range with 108,000 in July, the growth exceeded 100,000 for three straight months following August's 184,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and older fell by 0.2 percentage points (p) to 63.5%.

By industry, manufacturing employment rose by 16,000, recording its first increase since June 2024 and breaking a 26-month streak of declines.

Construction employment decreased by 48,000.

The accommodation and food services sector, a domestic consumption industry, shrank by 97,000, marking a decline for the second consecutive month.

This is the largest drop since a decrease of 232,000 in February 2021.

Employment among young people aged 15 to 29 fell by 147,000, continuing a downward trend for the 47th month.

The youth employment rate dropped by 1.1 percentage points to 44.0%, marking a downward trend for the 29th consecutive month.

The total number of unemployed persons stood at 600,000, down 34,000 from the same month last year.

The unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 2.0%.

The economically inactive population increased by 179,000 to 16.188 million, among which the population of those who "took a break" decreased by 25,000.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.