South Korea adds 63,000 jobs in June as youth employment rate falls to multi-year low

South Korea's employed population grew by 63,000 from a year earlier last month, extending a run of gains, but weakness in youth employment and the manufacturing and construction sectors weighed on the overall employment rate. The youth employment rate fell 1.7 percentage points over the year, while manufacturing shed 97,000 workers.

The Ministry of Statistics released its June 2026 employment survey Wednesday, showing the number of employed people aged 15 and older at about 29.154 million, up 63,000, or 0.2 percent, from the same month last year. The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 fell 0.1 percentage point to 70.2 percent, and the overall employment rate slipped 0.2 percentage point to 63.4 percent. The number of unemployed rose by 10,000, or 1.2 percent, to 834,000, though the unemployment rate held steady at 2.8 percent, unchanged from a year ago.

By age group, workers aged 60 and older led the gains, adding 214,000, while those in their 50s increased by 33,000. Workers in their 20s fell by 199,000 and those in their 40s by 19,000. The employment rate for youth aged 15 to 29 dropped 1.7 percentage points to 43.9 percent, and the youth unemployment rate rose 0.9 percentage point to 7.0 percent.

By industry, job gains were concentrated in health care and social welfare services (up 214,000), arts, sports and leisure-related services (up 55,000), and transportation and warehousing (up 48,000). Manufacturing shed 97,000 jobs, agriculture, forestry and fishing lost 95,000, and construction fell by 67,000, each continuing a downward trend.

By employment type, regular wage workers rose by 16,000, while temporary workers fell by 51,000 and daily workers by 45,000. Among the self-employed, those with paid staff increased by 95,000 and those without paid staff grew by 72,000, while unpaid family workers declined by 23,000.

The economically inactive population reached about 16.009 million, up 181,000 from the same month last year. The increase was driven by growth in those enrolled in school or taking courses and those engaged in household duties, even as the number of people inactive due to child-rearing fell. The number of discouraged workers rose by 16,000 to 356,000.