SEOUL, July 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment rose for the sixth consecutive month due to an expansion in elderly jobs, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of employed people aged 15 and older grew 183,000, or 0.6 percent, from a year earlier to 29,091,000 in June, keeping an upward trend since January, according to Statistics Korea.
The overall job growth was driven by the elderly. The number of jobs for those aged 60 and older expanded 348,000 in June on a yearly basis, and the figure for those in their 30s gained 116,000.
Employment among those aged 15-29 dived 173,000, while jobs for those in their 40s and 50s reduced 55,000 and 53,000 each.
Employment among manufacturers declined by 83,000 in June compared with the same month of last year, keeping a downward trend for the 12th successive month.
The consecutive slide was attributed to the continued sluggishness in domestic demand and the negative effect of the U.S. tariffs.
Jobs lost in the construction industry reached 97,000, continuing to go down for the 14th straight month.
The number of jobs in the health and social welfare service, the science and technology service, and the education service sectors picked up 216,000, 102,000 and 72,000 each.
The number of regular and irregular employees mounted 318,000 and 58,000 each, but the reading for daily laborers decreased 63,000 last month.
The number of the self-employed who hired employees shrank 21,000, and the figure for the self-employed without workers dwindled 45,000.
Employment rate for those aged 15 and older added 0.1 percentage point to 63.6 percent in June on a yearly basis, while the OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 increased 0.4 percentage points to 70.3 percent.
The number of unemployed people was 825,000 in June, down 32,000 from a year earlier. The unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 2.8 percent.
The expanded jobless rate slipped 0.1 percentage point to 8.6 percent in the cited month, while the corresponding rate for those aged 15-29 advanced 0.8 percentage points to 16.3 percent.
The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but fail to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts to seek a job.
The expanded jobless rate, called the labor underutilization indicator, adds those who are discouraged from searching for a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time, and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation, to the official unemployment rate.
The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, rose 42,000 from a year earlier to 15,828,000 in June.
The reading for discouraged jobseekers diminished 32,000 to 341,000 last month.
The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, went up 60,000 to 2,434,000 in the same month.
The take-a-rest group is considered important as it can include those who are too discouraged to seek a job for an extended period. ■
