South Korea’s jobless rate drops in October
November 9th, 2011 - 1:56 pm ICT by IANSSeoul, Nov 9 (IANS) South Korea’s jobless rate dropped to 2.9 percent in October as the number of people employed grew at the fastest pace in 17 months, a government report showed Wednesday.
The unemployment rate stood at 2.9 percent in October, down 0.4 percentage point from the same month of last year, the Statistics Korea said in a monthly report. The rate was lower than 3 percent tallied in September.
The number of unemployed, who failed to land work despite job-hunting efforts, decreased to 736,000 last month from 832,000 a year before, reported Xinhua.
“Accelerated job creation, mainly driven by the service industry, led the number of unemployed to contract sharply, dragging down the jobless rate,” the statistical agency said.
Jobless rate among those aged between 15 and 29 came in at 6.7 percent in October, down 0.3 percentage point from the previous year. The rate was higher than 6.3 percent recorded in September.
The total number of working people reached 24.67 million in October, up 501,000 from a year earlier. The employment rate rose 0.5 percentage point on-year to 59.9 percent last
month.
The October job growth marked the largest since May 2010 when the number of people finding jobs increased by 586,000.
Health and social welfare sector, which drove up the October job growth, created 141,000 jobs last month, with wholesale and retail sector adding 128,000 positions. Science and technology service field employed 74,000 workers last month, while transportation area hired 73,000 workers over the same period.
- South Korea's unemployment rate falls a little - Dec 14, 2011
- South Korea's jobless rate falls - Mar 14, 2012
- South Korea's jobless rate drops - Apr 12, 2012
- Brazil's jobless rate hits nine-year low - Dec 23, 2011
- Canada's unemployment rate falls - Jul 07, 2012
- Unemployment rises in Spain - Apr 04, 2012
- US jobless rates edges down - Nov 05, 2011
- Unemployment in France grows in October - Nov 29, 2011
- Unemployment rises in Italy - Nov 01, 2011
- US consumer prices dip - Nov 17, 2011
- US jobless levels at 7-month low - Nov 11, 2011
- Canada adds over 80,000 new jobs - Apr 06, 2012
- Australia's unemployment rate steady - Aug 09, 2012
- Britain's jobless rate to hit 9 percent - Mar 06, 2012
- More than five mn out of work in Spain - Jan 28, 2012
Tags: employment rate, finding jobs, government report, job creation, job hunting, jobless rate, pace, percentage point, previous year, retail sector, science and technology, seoul, social welfare sector, south korea, statistical agency, technology service, transportation area, unemployment rate, wholesale, xinhua