Despite alarming numbers in jobs and industries all across the board except for a few sectors, the South Korean finance ministry maintained upbeat tone on the Korean economy.

In its monthly report on economic trend for September, the Ministry of Finance and Economy reiterated that the Korean economy was on a steady recovery led by exports and consumption, the same wording it kept since December.

It said external uncertainties increased due to correction in capital investment and escalating trade conflict between the U.S. and China.

Korea’s exports jumped 8.7 percent on year to set a record for August at $51.2 billion. Outbound shipments were led by a boost in demand for Korean petrochemical, semiconductor, and steel products.

But the domestic front has been hit hard by labor-end instability as the result of spike in minimum wage and cutback in legal work hours, a factor the ministry refrained to elaborate.

Jobs were added by 3,000 in August, just 1 percent of monthly average of 300,000 throughout last year. The number of unemployed reached 1.13 million, up 134,000 from the same month last year to push up the overall jobless rate by 0.4 percentage point to 4 percent and that for youth at 10 percent.

The ministry claimed increased fiscal spending will help to mediate the downside risks from outside and within.

By Lee Yu-sup and Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]