September job figures pick up on holiday effect

Job figures for September rose by the biggest amount in over a decade thanks to a “holiday effect,” the government said Wednesday.

The number of employees in September rose by 685,000 from the same period last year to reach slightly over 25 million. The previous record-high increase had been in March 2002, when it rose by 842,000 people.

The holiday effect ― Chuseok thanksgiving holidays in September were excluded from the survey ― meant that there were more working days for the month.

Temporary employment, such as delivery and packaging, also rose for Chuseok to contribute to the increase, Statistics Korea said.

The latest figures compared with the particularly lackluster performance in September last year, when only 264,000 people were added to the workforce.
By Kim Ji-hyun  (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)