S.Korea’s job growth slows for 2nd straight year in 2024  

South Korea’s job growth slowed last year amid a prolonged slump in the country’s construction, manufacturing and retail sectors, boding ill for the country’s overall economy already marred by weak domestic demand.

According to data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of employed people in Asia’s fourth-largest economy added 159,000, or 0.6%, year-over-year to 28,576,000 in 2024.

The annual job gain slowed for two consecutive years last year after the addition was halved from the prior year.

The country’s number of employed people added 369,000 on-year in 2021 after losing 218,000 in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak. In 2022, jobs increased by 816,000 on-year but its growth moderated to 327,000 in 2023.

The Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance blamed the high base effect of the previous two years for the job decline last year.

Jobs were lost notably in the country’s construction industry with a reduction of 49,000, the biggest job loss for the sector since 2013 when the related data started to be compiled.

The wholesale and retail sector also lost 61,000 people while the manufacturing industry shed 6,000 jobs.

They are all mainstay industries for the Korean economy, raising concerns about Asia’s No. 4 economy reeling from its sluggish domestic demand and growing political and trade uncertainties.

Earlier this month, citing growing downside risks at home and abroad, the Korean finance ministry slashed the country’s growth forecast to 1.8% for 2025 from its previous forecast of 2.2% made in July 2024.

Domestic demand shows no sign of recovery in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ill-fated bid to declare martial law early last month, which has thrown the country into a political crisis.

The export-reliant economy is also bracing for rising trade protectionism as US President-elect Donald Trump, threatening universal tariffs on imports, returns to the Oval Office next week.

FURTHER SLOWDOWN IN JOB GROWTH

The finance ministry projected a further slowdown in the country’s labor market this year with an on-year addition of about 120,000 jobs, smaller than last year’s payroll increase of more than 150,000.

The government cited an accelerated fall in the peak working age groups as well as uncertainties at home and abroad creating a grim outlook for the country’s labor market this year.

This year’s employment rate was projected at 62.8%.

In 2024, payrolls for those in their 60s and older added 266,000 while those in their 20s lost 124,000 jobs, boding ill for Korea with its super-aged society and the world’s lowest fertility rate, the average number of children born to each woman over her lifetime.

The country’s employment rate for those aged 15 and above inched up 0.1 percentage point on-year to 62.7% in 2024. The employment rate for people aged between 15 and 64, a standard of comparison used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, hit a historic high of 69.5%.

GLOOMY DECEMBER

In December 2024, Korea lost 52,000 jobs from a year ago, marking the first on-year job loss since February 2021 when 473,000 jobs were removed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of employed people in the last month of last year stood at 28,041,000.

Jobs in the construction, manufacturing, as well as wholesale and retail sectors were reduced the most, with losses of 157,000, 97,000 and 96,000, respectively.

The country’s political turmoil took a big toll on domestic spending last month, upsetting the country’s job market, according to the finance ministry.

The employment rate for people aged between 15 and 64 added 0.2 percentage point from a year ago to 69.4% in December.

The number of unemployed people in the month increased 171,000 on-year to 1,115,000, and the unemployment rate ticked up 0.5 percentage point to 3.8%.

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at kkm1026@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.