Employment Slips on War Fallout as Number of Employed Falls for First Time in 17 Months

[Financial News] The number of employed people fell by 40,000 last month, turning negative for the first time in 17 months. The decline is attributed to slower manufacturing employment amid the prolonged Middle East war. Employment among young people also remained weak, posting the sharpest drop since January 2021.
According to the 'May Employment Trends' released on the 11th by the Ministry of Data and Statistics, the number of employed people aged 15 and older stood at 29.12 million last month, down 40,000 from a year earlier. It was the first monthly decline since December 2024, when the figure fell by 52,000, marking a 17-month gap.
The employment rate for people aged 15 and older stood at 63.3 percent, down 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier. The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64, the OECD comparison standard, came to 70.2 percent, down 0.3 percentage point.
By age group, weakness among young people was especially pronounced. The number of employed people aged 15 to 29 fell by 255,000, the largest drop since January 2021, when it fell by 314,000. The youth employment rate also dropped by 2.4 percentage points, marking the steepest decline in the same period. In contrast, employment rose by 171,000 among those aged 60 and older, and by 62,000 among people in their 30s.
By industry, the decline in manufacturing stood out. Manufacturing employment fell by 140,000, down 3.2 percent from a year earlier. That was the largest drop since February 2019, when it fell by 151,000. Employment also decreased in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, by 121,000, and in professional, scientific and technical services, by 89,000.
On the other hand, employment increased in health and social welfare services, by 212,000, in arts, sports and leisure services, by 44,000, and in transportation and warehousing, by 36,000.
Bin Hyun-jun, Director General of the Social Statistics Bureau, Statistics Korea, explained that "the number of employed people fell in the automobile and rubber-plastics industries." He added that "recent export growth has been led by semiconductors, but semiconductors do not account for a large share of employment."
The number of unemployed people last month stood at 878,000, up 25,000 from a year earlier. The unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 2.9 percent.
hippo@fnnews.com Kim Chan-mi Reporter