The employment rate in South Korea dropped in the first half of this year, due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Statistics Korea’s data Wednesday.

The employment rate for cities went down by 2 percent at 58.3 percent, compared to last year, according to the data. The employment rate for counties also decreased by 0.9 percentage point to 65.9 percent.

The jobless rate in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, and Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province reached 5.4 percent -- the highest level among cities.

The number of employed people in cities declined by 2 percent on-year to stand at 12.6 million, while the number of employed in counties also went down by 2.1 percent at 2 million. 

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)