First Half Employment Hits 22-Year High with 941,000 Increase... Employment Slowdown Expected in Second Half

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The number of employed people increased by 941,000 in the first half of this year, marking the largest increase in 22 years. However, the pace of employment growth is expected to slow in the second half of the year due to the government's direct job creation projects ending in the fourth quarter. Additionally, the government anticipates that continued interest rate hikes aimed at combating inflation will have a negative impact on the labor market through next year.

According to the 'June Employment Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 13th, the number of employed people last month was 28.478 million, an increase of 841,000 compared to the same period last year. This is the largest increase for June since June 2000 (877,000). Employment has increased for 16 consecutive months. However, the increase was slightly less than in May (935,000). The decrease in the year-on-year employment increase is the first in three months since March this year (831,000).

The employment rate for those aged 15-64 was 69.1%, the highest for the same month since statistics began in January 1989. The number of unemployed was 888,000, down 205,000 from a year earlier. The unemployment rate fell by 0.8 percentage points to 3.0%. The economically inactive population decreased by 456,000 to 15.882 million.

In detail, June employment was favorable with an increase in regular jobs mainly in face-to-face services and manufacturing, but a limitation remains as those aged 60 and over accounted for 56% of total employment. Jobs for those aged 60 and over increased by 472,000.

The increase in employment in the first half of this year was the highest since the first half of 2000 (1.124 million). Although employment indicators generally showed improvement this year, the pace of increase has slowed since last month, indicating a weakening momentum. Gong Misook, Director of the Social Statistics Bureau at Statistics Korea, said, "Employment growth continued due to improvements in face-to-face sectors following the full-scale recovery of daily life, but there are many uncertainties in forecasting future employment conditions."

On the same day, the government projected that the employment growth rate will gradually slow from the second half of this year through next year. Prime Minister Han Deoksoo also assessed at the Cabinet meeting the day before that "the employment recovery trend is likely to be temporary," adding, "As the base effect of the COVID-19 employment shock diminishes and the short-term job projects created by the government come to an end, coupled with continuous interest rate hikes, the labor market may be negatively affected in the second half of this year and possibly into next year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.