Shrinking youth jobs cast shadow over S.Korea’s labor market

Employment in South Korea extended its growth streak in June but its gains slowed for the third straight month, with youth jobs declining for eight months in a row amid the country’s falling population.

The number of employed people in Korea reached 28,812,000 in June, up 333,000 from the same period a year earlier, according to data released from Statistics Korea on Wednesday.

This was the 28th consecutive monthly gain in payrolls but the growth has eased since increasing by 469,000 in March. Some 354,000 were added in April and 351,000 in May.

Last month’s payroll gains were mainly driven by jobs taken by those in their 60s and above, with a 343,000 on-year increase, whereas jobs for those aged 15 to 29 declined 117,000 from the prior year, extending their losing streak for eight straight months.

The employment for Koreans in their 40s also dropped 34,000 but people in their 50s and 30s added 71,000 and 70,000 jobs, respectively.

Youth jobs continued to fall partly due to the country’s declining working population amid the declining birth rate, explained the statistics office.

Korea is rapidly aging, with its fertility rate hitting the world’s lowest of 0.78 in 2022.

SLUGGISH EXPORTS WEIGH ON MANUFACTURING SECTOR

The lackluster manufacturing and retail sectors also took away jobs from young people under 30, the latest job data suggested.

The manufacturing sector lost 10,000 workers in June from the same period last year, extending the losing streak for the sixth month in a row due to the country’s sluggish exports.

Korea’s monthly exports declined from last October to May this year as demand for Korean chips and petroleum products remained weak.

The construction industry also shed 62,000 jobs due to the country’s real estate market slump.

But thanks to the economic reopening, the hospitality/restaurant sector added 116,000 workers, and payrolls in the professional, science and technology service sector grew by 98,000.

The healthcare and social welfare service sector, where older people are mainly employed, also added 126,000 jobs.

RECORD HIGH EMPLOYMENT RATE, RECORD LOW JOBLESS RATE

The employment rate for those aged 15 and above stood at 63.5% in June, up 0.6 percentage points from a year ago and marking a record high for the month since the statistics office started compiling the related data in July 1982.

The employment rate for people aged between 15 and 64, a standard of comparison used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, increased 0.8 percentage points to 69.9%, also the highest for June.

The number of unemployed people also dropped by 81,000 to 807,000 in the month, the lowest since June 2008 when it reached 770,000. The jobless rate slipped 0.3 percentage points to a record low of 2.7% for the month.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance attributed the recent job gains to a rise in healthcare jobs and the expanded economic activities of female and aged workers.

It expected the recovery in the service sector to continue to shore up the country’s labor market but the job growth would gradually lose steam without any sign of imminent recovery in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

Write to Sang-Yong Park at yourpencil@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.