South Korea's employment numbers increased by 183,000 in June, as construction and manufacturing industries remain in a long-term slump

The number of employed people in South Korea increased by 183,000 in June, continuing the upward trend, but the increase rate has fallen back to the 100,000 range. Employment in the construction and manufacturing industries continues to be sluggish, while the number of employed people in agriculture, forestry and fisheries has fallen to the lowest in 10 years.
The employment rate for young people has been declining for 14 months. According to the "June 2025 Employment Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 16th, the number of employed people aged 15 and above last month was 2,909.
The number of employed persons increased by 183,000 (0.6%) from the same month last year. The number of employed persons has been on an upward trend since it decreased to 52,000 in December last year.
Last month, the number recovered to the 200,000 range for the first time in 13 months, but has now fallen back to the 100,000 range.
By industry, the health and social welfare services industry (216,000+ people), professional and science
While employment increased in the education and technical services industry (up 102,000 people), it decreased in agriculture, forestry and fisheries (down 141,000 people), construction (down 97,000 people), and manufacturing (down 83,000 people).
In particular, the construction industry has been declining for 14 consecutive months, and the manufacturing industry has been declining for 12 consecutive months. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries recorded the largest decrease since November 2015 (-172,000 people).
Kong Mi-sook, director of the social statistics bureau at Statistics Korea, said, "The decline in manufacturing is smaller than in March and April, but it has increased slightly from last month. We need to keep an eye on trade and tariff negotiations. As for agriculture, forestry and fisheries,
"In addition to the structural decline, heavy rainfall since June has made growing conditions poor, resulting in a sudden drop in the number of employed people."
By age, the number of cases increased in those aged 60 and over (348,000) and those in their 30s (116,000).
The employment rate for young people (aged 15-29) was 45.6%, down 1.0% from the previous year, and was 1.0% below the previous year.
The number of workers increased by 314,000 (1.4%) to 22,578,000.
Of these, the number of regular and temporary workers increased, while the number of day laborers decreased.
The number of self-employed with employees (-21,000), self-employed without employees (-45,000), and unpaid family workers (-64,000) decreased by 13,000, or 2.0%, to 130,000.
The employment rate in June was 63.6%, up 0.1 percentage points from the same month last year. The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64, the OECD comparison standard, was 70.3%, down 0.2%.
The number of unemployed people decreased by 32,000 (3.8%) to 825,000. The unemployment rate was 2.8%, up 0.4% from the previous year. The unemployment rate for young people was 6.1%, down 0.1 percentage point.
The economically active population, which includes both employed and unemployed people, increased by 193,000 to 29.915 million. The economic participation rate was 65.4%, up 0.1 percentage point from the same month last year.