South Korea Youth Employment Drops by 191,000 for 45th Month as Overall Jobs Rise 108,000
Updated
Updated · UPI News · Aug 10
South Korea Youth Employment Drops by 191,000 for 45th Month as Overall Jobs Rise 108,000
3 articles · Updated · UPI News · Aug 10
Summary
3.441 million South Koreans aged 15 to 29 were employed in July, down 191,000 from a year earlier, while youth unemployment rose 41,000 to 251,000.
6.8% youth unemployment was up 1.3 percentage points—the biggest year-over-year increase since January 2021—as officials pointed to manufacturing job losses.
68,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared in July, extending the sector's decline to 25 straight months; construction shed 57,000 and agriculture, forestry and fisheries lost 80,000.
108,000 jobs were added across the overall economy, lifting total employment to 29.136 million, but the national employment rate still slipped 0.1 point to 63.3% and unemployment rose to 2.6%.
200,000 young people are to be trained for advanced industries under planned government measures, alongside efforts to create 300,000 private-sector, public-sector and startup jobs.