Korea adds more than 260,000 jobs in April amid manufacturing surge

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Korea adds more than 260,000 jobs in April amid manufacturing surge

Published: 17 May. 2024, 12:28 Updated: 17 May. 2024, 15:27

KIM JU-YEON
kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr

Job seekers look at recruitment notices posted at the Gyeongsan Job Festival held on May 10. [YONHAP]

Korea added more than 260,000 jobs in April, driven by a marked increase in manufacturing roles due to export growth, and more people aged 60 and over entering the workforce.

However, the number of job seekers who remained unemployed surged by the most in more than three years amid demographic changes, according to data published Friday by Statistics Korea.

The number of employed individuals reached 28.69 million last month, up by 261,000 from a year earlier.

The country added more than 300,000 new jobs in both January and February, but the figure dropped to 173,000 in March, marking the fewest job additions since February 2021, primarily due to a high base effect and weak employment in the agricultural sector.

"The number of manufacturing jobs has increased for five consecutive months thanks to strengthening exports," said Seo Woon-joo, an official at Statistics Korea.

The manufacturing sector saw an increase of 100,000 jobs in April, marking the largest on-year gain since November 2022 when the sector added 101,000 jobs.

Exports, a key growth engine for Korea, advanced for the seventh consecutive month in April due to solid demand for semiconductors.

The health care and social welfare service sector added 93,000 jobs, and the information communication sector saw an increase of 68,000 positions.

However, the wholesale and retail sector shed 39,000 positions last month, and 49,000 jobs were lost in the education service sector.

By age group, the number of jobs for those aged 15-29 dropped by 89,000, while people in their 40s also experienced a decline of 90,000 positions last month.

Conversely, jobs for those aged 60 and older rose by 292,000 on year, and new positions for those in their 50s increased by 16,000.

People in their 30s saw an increase of 132,000 new jobs in April.

The number of self-employed individuals, operating businesses without employees, fell by 94,000 in April, marking the sharpest decline in five and a half years.

The employment rate of people aged 15-64 increased by 0.6 of a percentage point on year to 69.6 percent in April, the highest level for any April since the agency began compiling relevant data in 1989.

The jobless rate grew by 0.2 of a percentage point to 3 percent.

The number of people who remained unemployed and sought a job rose by 81,000 to 885,000 in April, the largest growth since February 2021.

"It was partly due to a base effect, as the number of such jobseekers had significantly declined over the past two years as the country worked to return to normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic," Seo said.

The agency also cited demographic changes as reasons for the rising number of unemployed people.

"We're seeing a rising population of people in their 60s, which led to the growth of both the number of newly employed people and the job seekers among the age group," the official said.

The number of unemployed people has been on a constant increase since November last year.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]