Manufacturing Employment Declines for 2 Consecutive Months... "Impact of Semiconductor Slump"

Statistics Korea, February Employment Trends
Employment Growth Slows for 9 Consecutive Months

The number of manufacturing sector employees in February this year decreased by 27,000 compared to the same month last year, marking a decline for two consecutive months. Statistics Korea analyzed this as an impact of the semiconductor sector downturn.

On the 15th, Statistics Korea announced the February employment trends containing this information.

According to the report, the number of employed persons aged 15 and over in February was 27,714,000, an increase of 312,000 (1.1%) compared to the same month last year. The employment growth peaked at 935,000 in May last year and began to slow down to 841,000 in June. This trend has continued for nine months. The employment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points to 61.1% compared to the same month last year.

Looking at the year-on-year changes in employment by age group, those aged 60 and over increased by 413,000, and those in their 50s increased by 77,000. However, employment decreased by 94,000 among those in their 20s and by 77,000 among those in their 40s.

Seounju, Director of the Social Statistics Bureau at Statistics Korea, explained, "The unemployment and unemployment rate among people in their 20s and 30s have increased, but there is a base effect because employment was very high and unemployment was low in February last year. While we need to observe the trend a bit longer, there may be frictional unemployment and waiting unemployment due to more experienced hires than new hires."

Examining the year-on-year changes in employment by industry, increases were seen in healthcare and social welfare services (192,000, 7.3%), accommodation and food services (176,000, 8.4%), and information and communications (43,000, 4.5%). Decreases occurred in wholesale and retail trade (-76,000, -2.3%), agriculture, forestry, and fishing (-44,000, -3.5%), and transportation and warehousing (-44,000, -2.6%). In particular, manufacturing decreased by 27,000, continuing the decline for two consecutive months following January (-35,000). Statistics Korea attributed this to the sluggish semiconductor industry.

The number of unemployed persons in February was 890,000, a decrease of 64,000 (-6.7%) compared to the same month last year. The unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 3.1%.

The economically inactive population was 16,751,000, down by 106,000 (-0.6%) compared to the same month last year. Those preparing for employment also decreased by 120,000 (-14.9%) to 685,000.

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