South Korea’s manufacturing industry rebounded strongly for the first time in more than two years in September as it hired more workers. Manufacturers had 4.36 million workers last month, up 16,000 from the same period a year ago, Statistics Korea said. It is the first increase in the sector in 26 months, following a series of job reductions in July and August.
The manufacturing sector returned to positive numbers on the back of strong growth in chemicals, fabricated metal products and other transport equipment while employment in the auto and textile industry declined, officials said. A positive business sentiment and strong exports are now contributing positively in the job creation front, said the Ministry of Economy and Finance, noting that this is happening little by little.
The number of jobs grew by 113,000 compared with a year ago across the economy as a whole to reach 29.27 million. This was the third month in a row of growth over 100,000, although down from the numbers in August. This growth slowdown was partly driven by a large comparison base in September 2025, which was bolstered by government consumption coupons, the Government of South Korea said.
The performance of the sectors was quite different in this period. Consumer-facing industries were hit hard, as accommodation and food services lost 97,000 jobs, the most since early 2021. In addition, 48,000 jobs were lost in construction. In contrast, services in health and social welfare experienced the largest overall increase with 207,000 new jobs. Employment policies under the Ministry of Employment and Labour continue to focus on stabilising less stable service sectors to cope with these industry changes.
In the meantime, unemployment is a serious problem among the youth. The 147,000 decline in employment was more than offset by a rise of 117,000 in the number of young adults, bringing the total number of unemployed people aged 15 to 29 to 140,000.The number of young adults increased by 117,000 but the number of employed young people (15-29) fell by 147,000, extending a downward trend that has now been continuing for 47 consecutive months. Youth unemployment increased to 5.4%, which is the highest September figure in four years. Notwithstanding, employment rate for the 15-64 age group reached a new high of 70.6% in September, while total unemployment dropped to 2%. Financial authorities are preparing an all-encompassing plan for a national program to establish sustainable jobs in the public and private sectors, with a view toward dealing with global risks like the Middle East tensions, alongside the Bank of Korea and other institutions.
