South Korea added more than 200,000 jobs for the first time in 13 months in May, but employment losses continued in the manufacturing and construction sectors, government data showed Wednesday.
The number of employed people stood at 29.16 million last month, up 245,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
It marks the first time since April 2024 that job growth exceeded the 200,000 mark and the largest on-year increase since then.
May also marked the fifth consecutive month of job growth, following a brief decline in December, when the country posted a net loss of 52,000 jobs.
Since then, the labor market has shown signs of steady recovery, with net gains of 135,000 jobs in January, 136,000 in February, 193,000 in March and 194,000 in April.
Despite the overall growth, the manufacturing and construction sectors remained sluggish.
The manufacturing sector, often considered the backbone of the South Korean economy, shed 67,000 jobs from a year earlier in May, extending its downturn to an 11th consecutive month.
The construction industry also continued to struggle, losing 106,000 jobs last month to continue its decline for the 13th straight month.
However, the pace of job losses in both sectors slowed compared with the previous month, the agency noted.
The accommodation and food service industry also saw significant job losses, shedding 67,000 positions to mark the steepest decline since November 2021, the agency said.
In contrast, several service sectors posted solid gains.
Employment in public health and social welfare rose by 233,000, while the science and technology services sector added 117,000 jobs.
Employment in wholesale and retail trade also increased by 18,000, marking a turnaround and the first on-year growth in 15 months.
"The drop in employment in the accommodation and food service industry was largely driven by a sharp decrease in jobs at pubs and restaurants," said Gong Mi-sook, a Statistics Korea official. "The turnaround in wholesale and retail employment reflects a base effect from previous declines."
May's overall job growth was largely driven by hiring among older adults.
Employment among those aged 60 and older surged by 370,000 from a year earlier, while jobs for people in their 30s rose by 132,000.
Notably, the number of employed people aged 60 and above surpassed 7 million for the first time, the agency said.
In contrast, younger age groups saw notable declines.
Jobs for people in their 20s fell by 124,000, while those in their 40s decreased by 39,000. Statistics Korea noted that these age groups are also experiencing population declines, contributing to the employment drop.
The employment rate for people aged 15 and older rose 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier to 70.5 percent in May. However, the employment rate for those aged 15 to 29 stood at 46.2 percent, down 0.7 percentage point on-year.
The number of economically inactive people declined by 22,000 from a year earlier to 15.7 million as of end-May.
Among them, however, the number of people who reported being out of work simply to rest rose by 2.4 percent, or 56,000 people, according to the agency. (Yonhap)
