S. Korea’s payroll adds 677,000 in Oct amid data weakening for fifth month

[Photo by Kim Ho-young]

South Korea added 677,000 jobs in October, with employment data extending softening trend for the fifth straight month amid growing economic uncertainty from weakening exports and rising interest rates.

According to data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the total number of employed stood at 28.418 million in October, up 677,000 from the same period a year ago. It is the largest addition for the month of October since 966,000 in 1999.

The on-year payroll gain has continued for 20 straight months since March last year but growth has slowed recently from over 1 million in January and February. Job growth has slowed to 935,000 in May, 841,000 in June, 826,000 in July, 807,000 in August, and 707,000 in September.

More than half of the payroll gains, or 67.9 percent of the total, went to those aged 60 or older with 460,000 additions in October, followed by those in their 50s (147,000), 30s (61,000), and 20s (21,000).

The number of job additions for those in their 40s, however, fell by 11,000 in October.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and above came to 62.7 percent, up 1.3 percentage points from the same period a year ago, marking the highest for the month of October since the agency began compiling related data in July 1982.

Job additions were mainly led by the manufacturing sector with 201,000 gain, marking growth for a 12th straight month.

The accommodation and restaurant sector added 153,000 jobs in October from a year ago, marking the largest growth for the month since 154,000 in 2014. The sector has added jobs for a sixth month in a row on eased social distancing rules and increased outdoor activity.

Healthcare and social welfare sector added 121,000 jobs while wholesale and retail sector lost 60,000 jobs, and finance and insurance sector 15,000 jobs.

Those who work for 36 hours or longer per week fell 2.79 million to 13.7 million in October from a year ago while those who work for less than 37 hours rose 3.46 million to 14.3 million, the highest for the month of October since July 1982.

Statistics Korea said that October had substitute holidays and more people went on leaves for outdoor activity than last year.

The number of regular workers rose by 738,000 while that of temporary and day-to-day workers plunged by 85,000 and 80,000 each. The number of self-employed without employees surged 99,000 while those with employees 67,000.

The unemployed figure stood at 692,000, down 95,000 from a year ago. The jobless rate fell 0.4 percentage point to 2.4 percent, the lowest for the month since June 1999.

The economically inactive population - those who are neither working nor actively seeking jobs - stood at 16.2 million, down 428,000 from a year earlier. The number of those that gave up searching for jobs fell by 160,000 to 414,000.

“Jobs continued to grow but the gain slowed,” said Kong Mi-sook, a senior official at Statistics Korea. “We will have to wait and see if the trend will continue as there are many external factors such as interest rate, prices, and exchange rate.”

By Lee Eun-joo