S.Korea's employment keeps rising for 16 months in June

SEOUL, July 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment kept rising for the 16th consecutive month in June despite slower growth amid worries about an economic downturn, statistical office data showed Wednesday.

The number of those employed totaled 28,478,000 in June, up 841,000 from the same month last year, according to Statistics Korea.

Jobs continued to grow for 16 months since March last year, but the year-over-year employment growth has slowed after peaking at 1,135,000 in January and 1,037,000 in February.

Concerns mounted over the economic slump, caused by rapid interest rate hikes here to counter inflation.

The Bank of Korea raised its policy rate by 50 basis points to 2.25 percent earlier in the day, delivering three back-to-back rate hikes for the first time with 25-basis-point hikes in April and May.

Employment in the health and social welfare sector expanded by 177,000 in June on a yearly basis, and the reading in the transport and warehousing segment increased by 126,000.

Driven by export growth, the number of jobs among manufacturers grew by 158,000 in the month, and employment in the lodging and eatery sector rose by 28,000.

The number of jobs lost in the finance and insurance and the wholesale and retail segments came in at 59,000 and 37,000 respectively.

Employment grew in all age groups. The number of jobs among those aged 60 or higher jumped by 472,000, and those in their 50s and 20s climbed by 245,000 and 117,000 each.

The number of regular employees soared by 899,000, but the readings for irregular workers and daily laborers shed by 53,000 and 79,000 each last month.

The number of the self-employed who hired workers was up by 121,000 in June, and the figure for the self-employed without employees added 6,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 or higher rose 1.6 percentage points from a year earlier to 62.9 percent in June, and the OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 went up 2.0 percentage points to 69.1 percent.

The number of those unemployed stood at 888,000 in June, down 205,000 from a year earlier. The jobless rate slipped 0.8 percentage points to 3.0 percent.

The expanded jobless rate retreated 2.5 percentage points to 10.6 percent last month, and the rate for those aged 15-29 dropped 3.9 percentage points to 19.6 percent.

The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but failed to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts to seek a job actively.

The expanded jobless rate, called the labor underutilization indicator, adds those who are discouraged from searching for a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time, and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation, to the official jobless rate.

The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, went down 456,000 from a year earlier to 15,882,000 in June. It kept a downward trend for 16 months in a row.

The reading for discouraged job seekers diminished by 149,000 to 435,000 in the cited month.

The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, dwindled by 174,000 to 2,071,000 last month.

The take-a-rest group is considered important as it can include those who are too discouraged to seek a job for an extended period.