South Korea added 469,000 jobs in March on demand for care services

[Photo by Yonhap]

The number of people employed in South Korea in March rose to the highest in four months helped by increased demand for care services and a rise in outside activities despite an economic slowdown, data showed on Wednesday.

People with jobs in Korea reached 28.22 million last month, up around 469,000 from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. This is also more than an increase of 312,000 in February.

“Despite the falling exports and slowing economy, the overall jobs increased at a faster pace in March from a month earlier due to the rising demand for care services and increased outdoor activities,” an official from the agency said. “Uncertainties, however, remain as the manufacturing, wholesale and retail sectors are affected by economic factors, such as exports.”

Excluding senior employment, however, the country’s job additions fell 78,000. The number of jobs for people aged 60 and older increased by 547,000 from a year ago and those for people in their 50s and 30s increased by 50,000 and 24,000, respectively, but those for people in their 20s slipped for five consecutive months and those in their 40s dropped for nine consecutive months. Youth employment rate also fell by 0.1 percentage point to 46.2 percent.

By industry, the number of jobs in the manufacturing industry dropped 49,000 over the period, extending losses to a third month amid the sluggish exports. Jobs in the wholesale and retail sectors also fell 66,000, with the construction sector losing 20,000 jobs. The health and welfare sector, on the other hand, added 186,000 jobs on-year, followed by the accommodation and restaurant industry with 177,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and older stood at 62.2 percent, up 0.8 percentage points from a year ago. This is the highest for any March since relevant data were compiled in July 1982.

The jobless rate in March edged down 0.1 percentage point on-year to 2.9 percent, marking the lowest level for any March since the statistics agency adopted the current data compiling methods to analyze the job market in 1999.