Korea saw biggest job growth in 22 years in 2022, pace to slow in 2023

[Photo by Kim Ho-young]

South Korea reported the largest increase in jobs in 22 years in 2022 helped by growing demand for healthcare workers, delivery services and strong exports.

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of employed people last year rose by 816,000 to 28,089,000. However, employment growth will likely slow throughout this year due to an economic downturn. The government projects that the number of employed will increase by 100,000 this year, which is higher than Bank of Korea’s forecast of 90,000 and Korea Development Institute’s 80,000.

By sector, South Korea added 180,000 jobs in healthcare, 135,000 jobs in manufacturing, 71,000 in public services and 62,000 in education. However, the jobs in retail and wholesale and financing decreased from a year ago.

The number of employed increased in all age groups. People aged 60 and older accounted for 55 percent of the growth, or 452,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and older rose by 1.6 percentage points on-year to reach 62.1 percent last year, the highest since South Korea started compiling data in 1963. The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 reached the highest in history.

The number of unemployed fell to 205,000 to reach 833,000 last year. The unemployment rate was at 2.9%, down 0.8 percentage points on-year. The economically inactive population reached 16,339,000, down from a year ago. The number of job seekers also fell to 763,000.

South Korea added jobs for the 22nd straight month in December, but the growth continued to slow for the seventh month in a row.