Gwangju Employment Rate Drops, Jeonnam Sees Change... March Employment Rate Declines

Regular Jobs Decrease by 16,000 in Gwangju and 28,000 in Jeonnam
Office Jobs Down in Gwangju, Self-Employment and Temporary Jobs Up in Jeonnam
Employment Rate Drops, Unemployment Rate Rises by 0.1 Percentage Points Each

The morning commute remained similar, but the workplace changed. In Gwangju, March began with fewer jobs, while in Jeonnam, the types of jobs changed.

In March, both Gwangju and Jeonnam experienced a decline in employment rates and a slight increase in unemployment rates. Asia Economy DB

In March, both Gwangju and Jeonnam saw a decline in employment rates and a slight increase in unemployment rates. The number of employed people decreased by 19,000 in Gwangju and 12,000 in Jeonnam. Although the figures appear similar, the reasons for the employment decline were different. In Gwangju, jobs disappeared, while in Jeonnam, the nature of jobs changed.

According to the "March 2025 Employment Trends in Gwangju and Jeonnam" released by the Honam Regional Statistics Office on the 9th, Gwangju's employment rate was 60.4%, down 1.4 percentage points from the same month last year. Jeonnam's employment rate fell by 0.7 percentage points to 65.8%. The unemployment rates rose by 0.1 percentage points each, reaching 3.1% in Gwangju and 2.4% in Jeonnam.

In Gwangju, the total number of employed people was 772,000, a decrease of 19,000 from a year ago. The number of regular employees dropped by 16,000, while temporary and daily workers increased by 7,000 and 2,000, respectively. This means stable jobs decreased, while short-term and unstable jobs increased. The largest declines were seen in office jobs (-21,000) and professional jobs (-14,000), with decreases also in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as well as electricity, transportation, communications, and finance.

In Jeonnam, the number of employed people was 1 million, a decrease of 12,000. While regular employees decreased, the numbers of self-employed, unpaid family workers, and temporary workers increased. Notably, the number of self-employed with employees decreased, while those without employees increased, indicating a shift toward small-scale self-employment. By industry, wholesale/retail, accommodation/food services, and construction increased, while agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and services decreased.

This reflects the characteristics of Jeonnam's employment structure, where, amid economic uncertainty and demographic changes, the proportion of self-employment is growing and non-wage employment forms such as daily and temporary jobs are spreading.

According to Statistics Korea, Jeonnam is seeing a pronounced increase in self-employed without employees compared to those with employees, indicating a structural shift toward small-scale self-employment. Especially in the service sector, the number of employed in personal and public services decreased, while wholesale/retail and accommodation/food services increased, suggesting that the contraction of traditional industries and the reorganization of employment around everyday-life-related sectors are occurring simultaneously.

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