<이미지를 클릭하시면 크게 보실 수 있습니다>

South Korea’s employment rate hit a 23-year-high for November mainly driven by the addition of government-sponsored jobs, while employment in the backbone manufacturing industry remained dismal.

The country added 331,000 jobs in November from a year ago to place the total number of employed at 27,515,000, according to Statistics Korea on Wednesday. The employment rate reached 61.7 percent, up 0.3 percent point from a year earlier and the highest November figure since 1996.

Jobs have been added steadily since the beginning of this year, with the growth pace accelerating to above 300,000 over the recent four months in a row.

<이미지를 클릭하시면 크게 보실 수 있습니다>

The healthcare and social welfare sector stayed as the main driver in job growth again, adding 135,000 jobs from a year earlier through government hiring. It was followed by accommodation and restaurant sectors with 82,000 new hires. Sports/arts/leisure sector also added 82,000 jobs.

But the retail/ wholesale industry shed 88,000 jobs and construction sector 70,000. Public administration, defense and social security sector cut 36,000 jobs.

The manufacturing industry lost 26,000 headcounts in November, extending a losing streak to the 20th consecutive month. But the reduction has slowed from the previous month’s 81,000 losses.

Job growth was mainly led by seniors, with 408,000 Koreans aged 60 and older landing a new job. Job gains for people in 20s and 50s came at 70,000 and 65,000, respectively. But the prime workforce group of those in the 30s lost 26,000 jobs and the 40s 179,000 jobs.

The employment rate for the 15- to 64-year-old age group – the standard of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – gained 0.3 percentage point on year to 67.4 percent, the highest since 1989 when the statistics bureau began taking the related record.

The youth employment rate for aged from 15 to 29 also gained 1.1 percentage points to 44.3 percent.

But the employment rate of the 40s declined 1.1 percentage points against a year earlier, the worst since December 2009 and the 22nd consecutive month to stay on a downward trajectory. It was the only age group that marked a year-on-year fall in November.

<이미지를 클릭하시면 크게 보실 수 있습니다>

The jobless rate slowed 0.1 percentage point to 3.1 percent from a year earlier. The youth unemployment rate (aged 15 to 29) was down 0.9 percentage point on year to 7.0 percent, the lowest for November since 2012.

The number of unemployed totaled 866,000, down 43,000 from the same month a year ago.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]