South Korea’s employment rate hit the highest October figure in 23 years, keeping up its strong pace of job creation for the third straight month.

The country added 419,000 jobs in October from a year earlier, with the number of employed at 27.5 million, according to Statistics Korea on Wednesday. The employment rate was 61.7 percent, up 0.6 percentage point from the same month a year ago and the highest October reading since 1996.

It is the third consecutive month that the number of job additions has surpassed 300,000. While the figure fell short of 463,000 in August, it still topped last month’s 348,000. Monthly job gains have been picking up pace since the beginning of the year. After a mere 19,000 new hires in January, employers added 263,000 jobs in February and 250,000 in March.

The healthcare and social welfare sector continued to drive job growth, adding 151,000 jobs in October from a year earlier, helped by heavy government spending to create public sector jobs for the elderly. The accommodation and restaurant sector also posted 112,000 job gains. There was a large employment uptick in the culture, sports and leisure services, which saw 96,000 additions, a 22.1 percent jump from the year-ago period.

But the job market for manufacturing, the backbone of the Korean economy, remained weak, shedding 81,000 jobs in October to extend its losing streak for the 19th straight month. Retail and wholesale sectors cut 67,000 workers and finance and insurance 54,000.

Job growth was led primarily by young adults and seniors. The employment rate for the 15-29 age group was 44.3 percent, up 1.4 percentage point. That of Koreans aged 60 and older rose 1.5 percentage point to 43.4 percent on the back of the government’s senior hiring scheme.

Hiring among the 30s and 50s also rose, with only the 40s seeing a 0.6 percentage point drop in their employment rate to 78.5 percent.

The employment rate for the 15-to 64-year-old age group – the standard of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – rose 0.5 percentage point to 67.3 percent.

The number of unemployed fell 108,000 from a year ago to 864,000 in October. The unemployment rate was 3.0 percent, down 0.5 percentage point on year, a six-year low.

By Kim Hyo-jin

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