Recruiter magazine says that according to figures from the government-funded Korea Labor Institute in Seoul, more South Koreans are working than a year ago, but the unemployment rate is still rising.
The Korean labor force grew by 3% to 26,714,000 in the year to April with the employment rate at 60.6%, up 0.8 percentage points. Total Korean employment stood at 25,684,000 or 2.3% more than a year earlier, but the unemployment rate was also up by 0.7% at 3.9%. The number of unemployed Koreans was 1,030,00, an increase of 205,000 (24.9%) from the same quarter a year ago.
Industries adding jobs included the wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food; manufacturing; services; and power, transport, telecoms and finance while jobs were lost in agriculture, forestry and fishing; and construction.
No explanation for the disparity in the figures was given by the Korea Labor Institute.
