Number of people in jobs continues to rise, but struggles for young people remain

Employment expanded in June on year for the sixth month in a row but the growth remained uneven by age and even sector.

Our correspondent Kim Do-yeon explains.

The employment rate in South Korea continues to grow but concerns remain.

The number of people in employment last month was 29.091 million, an increase of 183,000 compared to the same month last year.

That's according to the latest data from Statistics Korea released on Wednesday.

Employment has been on the rise for six consecutive months since January, but June's increase was smaller than the 245,000 seen the month before.

"By industry, the rise was led by health and social welfare, professional and scientific services, and educational services.

By employment status, the increase was seen among regular and temporary workers, and by age group, it was most notable among those aged 60 and over, as well as those in their 30s."

However, the situation for young adults has been getting harder.

Looking at the employment rate, it rose 0.1 percentage points year-on-year to 63.6% across all age groups , but for young people, it fell 1 percentage point to 45.6%, the lowest June figure in four years.

For 14 straight months the number of employed people under 30 has been falling.

Compared to June last year the loss was 173,000.

"This is because companies increasingly prefer experienced candidates when hiring, and rolling recruitment has also been on the rise — factors that tend to disadvantage the youth."

On top of this, struggling industries continued a downward trend.

Employment in manufacturing shrank by 83-thousand, extending a year-long slide, while construction jobs dropped by 97-thousand, now down for 14 months in a row amid a sluggish real estate development market.

Those industries have been hit hard recently but the government has recently allocated funds from its supplementary budget to give them a boost.

Kim Do-yeon, Arirang News.