S. Korea adds 166,000 jobs in Aug.; youth employment remains weak

SEOUL, 10 September (BelTA - Yonhap) - South Korea added nearly 170,000 jobs in August, but employment losses continued in the manufacturing and construction sectors, as well as among the younger population, data showed Wednesday.

The number of employed people stood at 28.97 million last month, up 166,000 from a year earlier to mark the third consecutive month of over 100,000 employment growth, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The August figure highlights a continued upward trend in employment following a brief contraction in December, when the country saw a net loss of 52,000 positions.

Since then, the labor market has shown signs of modest recovery, adding 245,000 jobs in May before slightly easing to 183,000 in June and 171,000 in July.

August also marks the eighth consecutive month of on-year growth.

The number of economically inactive people went up by 9,000 from a year earlier to 16.22 million.

Among them, the number of people who reported being out of work simply to rest rose by 2.9 percent, or 73,000 people, according to the agency.

"Recently, the job market has favored experienced positions and transitioned to ad-hoc recruitment, contributing unfavorably to the youth," Gong Mi-sook, an agency official, said.