SEOUL, Jan. 14 (AJP) — South Korea’s labor market held up on the surface in 2025, with employment and participation rates reaching record highs, but stagnant payroll growth, manufacturing job losses and the highest youth unemployment in three years underscored lingering fragility, government data showed Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, the number of employed people aged 15 and older reached 28.769 million in 2025, up 193,000, or 0.7 percent, from the previous year.
Payroll gains have remained below 200,000 for a second consecutive year, reflecting sluggish economic growth of around 1 percent or less.
The employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 rose to 69.8 percent, the highest on record under OECD standards. The overall employment rate stood at 61.5 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier and the best level since data collection began in 1963.
Despite the strong headline figures, conditions worsened for younger workers. The employment rate for those aged 15 to 29 fell to 45.0 percent in 2025 from 46.1 percent a year earlier, while the youth unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent from 5.9 percent, the highest in three years.
Job losses were concentrated in key industries. Employment in construction fell 6.1 percent year on year, reflecting a prolonged sectoral downturn, while manufacturing employment declined 1.6 percent.
The number of “idled” people — those neither working nor actively seeking employment — continued to rise, increasing from 2.351 million in 2023 to 2.467 million in 2024 and further to 2.555 million in 2025.
By age group, the idled population increased by 19,000 among those in their 20s and by 67,000 among those aged 60 and older, highlighting growing difficulties for young people entering the labor market.
The share of discouraged job seekers — those who have given up looking for work — within the economically inactive population also climbed steadily, from 14.5 percent in 2023 to 15.3 percent in 2024 and 15.8 percent in 2025.
December data were largely in line with the full-year trend. Employment rose by 168,000 from a year earlier to 28.2 million, slowing from a gain of 225,000 in November. The youth employment rate was unchanged from the previous month, extending a period of weakness.
Construction and manufacturing — sectors that account for a large share of regular jobs — each shed about 63,300 positions in December, reinforcing concerns over the durability of job creation amid weak domestic demand.
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