Korea’s jobless rate likely at 3.8% in July

South Korea’s jobless rate is likely to remain unchanged at 3.8 percent in July, a leading provider of economic analysis said Saturday, citing government stimulus measures.

“The labor market is on the mend at the hand of strengthening domestic demand as generous government stimulus measures begin to reduce the chronically high youth unemployment and improve welfare payments,” Moody’s Analytics said in an economic preview.

It said consumer and business sentiments have already responded positively to the measures, so a pickup in employment growth should follow shortly. 

South Korea is set to release data on the monthly jobless rate on Wednesday.

In late July, the parliament passed an 11.03 trillion won (US$9.9 billion) extra budget bill meant to create jobs and spur economic growth.

In June, South Korea‘s unemployment rate stood at 3.8 percent, up 0.2 percentage point from the same month last year, according to government data.

The unemployment rate for young people, aged between 15 and 29, was 10.1 percent, up from 9.4 percent tallied a year earlier and higher than 8.6 percent for May. (Yonhap)