Korea's jobless rate falls to 3.1 percent in July

Korea's jobless rate edged down from a month earlier in July thanks to a rise in new jobs, especially for the young, a government report showed Thursday.

The jobless rate came to 3.1 percent last month, down from 3.2 percent in June, according to the monthly report by Statistics Korea. The July figure also marks a drop of 0.2 percentage points from the same month last year.

The drop was led by 470,000 new jobs added in the market, compared with some 365,000 new jobs in the previous month.

"The increase in the number of new jobs was made possible as the number of workers in the manufacturing sector went up following an 11-month drop while the number of people in the service sector continued to rise," the report said.

The health and welfare industry added 102,000 new jobs last month with the education service industry providing 96,000 more jobs, according to the report. The number of employees in the logistics sector also increased by 43,000 in July.

Many of the new jobs, apparently, went to people aged between 15 and 29 years as the youth jobless rate fell to 7.3 percent from 7.7 percent in June.

The country's employment rate, however, also edged down to 64.9 percent in July from 65 percent the previous month partly due to a rise in the number of people retiring from the job market.

Reflecting improvements, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate also dipped to 3.1 percent from 3.3 percent a year earlier, according to the report. The figure also marks a drop from 3.2 percent in June.

The latest job data follows earlier reports that Korea's trade surplus rose to a 21-month high in June as its exports grew 1.3 percent from a year earlier to $47.35 billion with its imports shrinking 5.4 percent to $42.39 billion.

The country again posted a trade surplus in July for the sixth consecutive month, but the gain significantly narrowed to $2.76 billion as its outbound shipments plunged 8.8 percent on-year to $44.6 billion, reflecting shrinking overseas demand.

"We will continue to see large fluctuations each month until the start of the fourth quarter though the employment rate will likely continue showing an overall upward trend during the remainder of the year," the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a press release.

(Yonhap News)