South Korea’s February unemployment rate fell to its lowest on record, government data showed on Wednesday, while the number of jobs being added stood near a 22-year high.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate last month was 2.7%, Statistics Korea data showed, the lowest since data compilation began in 1999. It came in at 3.6% in January.
Data also showed some 1,037,000 jobs were added in the same month, not far from January’s jobs growth of 1,135,000, which was the most since March 2000.
The number of employed people has also increased every month since March last year. The employment rate of people aged 15 and older rose 2 percentage points on-year to 60.6% last month.
That marked the highest level for any February since the statistics agency began compiling related data in July 1982. The country’s jobless rate fell 1.5 percentage points on-year to 3.4% last month.
South Korea reported its largest job growth in nearly 22 years in January as the market improved to pre-pandemic levels due to a low base effect and an economic recovery.
The Bank of Korea said the South Korean economy could grow 3% this year after a 4% expansion last year, the fastest growth in 11 years.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
READ MORE:
SoftBank Sold $1bn Stake in Korea’s Coupang
US Suspects North Korea Tested Ballistic Missile System
South Korea Posts Trade Deficit as Commodity Prices Soar
