Korea adds 108,000 jobs in July, but manufacturing employment remains weak

Korea added 108,000 jobs in July from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month of gains, while manufacturing employment remained weak, government data showed on Wednesday.

The number of employed people stood at 29.13 million in July, compared to 29.02 million a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Job growth turned positive again in June, rising by 63,000 after declining by 40,000 in May, the first drop in 17 months.

The country’s jobless rate came to 2.6 percent in July, up 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier.

The number of unemployed people totaled 776,000 last month, rising 50,000 from the previous year.

The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 came to 70.3 percent, rising 0.1 percentage point over the period. The rate for those aged 15 to 29, on the other hand, fell 1.6 percentage points to 44.2 percent.

The report showed that jobs in the manufacturing sector shed 68,000 on year in July.

Yonhap