SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment growth hit a four-month high despite the fourth consecutive monthly fall in the employment rate, statistical ministry data showed Wednesday.
The number of employed people aged 15 and older gained 108,000, or 0.4 percent, from a year earlier to 29,136,000 in July, marking the fastest increase since April, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
After maintaining a steady expansion of 100,000 to 200,000 jobs in the first quarter, the job growth slowed sharply to 74,000 in April. The number of jobs shrank by 40,000 in May before rebounding in June with a growth of 63,000.
In spite of the job gains, employment rate among those aged 15 and older fell by 0.1 percentage points over the year to 63.3 percent in July, marking the fourth straight month of decline.
The OECD-standard employment rate for those aged 15-64 added 0.1 percentage points to 70.3 percent.
The pace of manufacturing job cuts moderated thanks to a semiconductor export boom.
Employment among manufacturers decreased by 68,000 in July from a year earlier, slower than a contraction of 97,000 in the previous month. The manufacturing employment kept a downward trend for 25 straight months.
Construction jobs fell by 57,000, continuing to go down for 27 successive months.
The number of jobs in the health and social welfare services, the arts, sports and leisure services, and the public administration, defense and compulsory social security sectors rose 173,000, 48,000 and 46,000 each.
The overall employment was driven by the elderly. The number of jobs for those aged 60 and older climbed 231,000 in July on a yearly basis, while the figures for those in their 30s and 50s rose by 65,000 and 33,000 each.
Employment among those in their 20s and 40s fell by 204,000 and 31,000 each.
The number of unemployed people totaled 776,000 in July, up 50,000 from a year earlier. Unemployment rate added 0.2 percentage points to 2.6 percent. ■