“Uncertainty in US Tariffs Leads to 120,000 Decrease in Manufacturing Jobs… Cold Wave in Construction and Youth Employment (Comprehensive Report)”

194,000 Increase in Employment in April… Largest Drop in Manufacturing Employment in 6 Years and 2 Months
‘Abnormal Weather’ Blamed for Significant Decrease in Agricultural Employment… Youth Facing ‘Employment Difficulties’ at 1.14 million, Up by 29,000,
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, Statistics Korea Releases April Employment Trends
A job seeker reviewing a job information board at the Western Employment Welfare Plus Center in Mapo-gu, Seoul last month. [Yonhap News Photo],
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, ‘(Sejong=Yonhap News) Reporters Min Kyung-rak and Park Jae-hyun = The number of employed in April increased by nearly 200,000, maintaining double-digit growth for four consecutive months, but the situation in manufacturing, construction, and among youths is not good.’,
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, ‘Employment in sectors considered to offer high-quality jobs, such as manufacturing and construction, decreased significantly, and employment in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries also showed weakness due to abnormal weather conditions.’,
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, “The employment situation for the youth is worsening, with both employment and unemployment rates deteriorating, and the number of those leaving the job market continuing to increase.”,
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, ‘To minimize domestic demand contraction due to foreign uncertainties like U.S. tariff policies, the government plans to support export companies affected by tariffs and respond proactively to employment shocks through the implementation of a supplementary budget.’,
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, Tightened Employment Market
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Seo Dae-yeon = This year’s number of employed in their late 20s has decreased the most in about 12 years, with promotional materials related to job support displayed on a screen at a university in Seoul.
According to Statistics Korea’s national statistics portal (KOSIS) on the 14th, the number of employed in their late 20s (ages 25-29) in the first quarter of this year was 2.42 million, down by 98,000 compared to the previous year, marking the largest decrease since the third quarter of 2013 (-103,000). 2025.4.14 [email protected],
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Largest Increase in Employment in a Year but Continued Weakness in Manufacturing, Construction, and Youth, “According to the ‘April Employment Trends’ released by Statistics Korea on the 14th, the number of employed last month was 28,887,000, an increase of 194,000 from a year earlier.”,
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, ‘This is the largest increase since April last year (261,000), continuing a growth trend in the 100,000s for four months starting from January this year.’,
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, ‘By industry, manufacturing employment decreased by 124,000, a larger decrease than the previous month (-112,000), and the largest drop since February 2019 when it decreased by 151,000.’,
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, ‘Despite the increasing export trend, manufacturing employment has been declining for 10 consecutive months since July last year.’,
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, ‘The delay in domestic demand recovery, foreign uncertainties such as U.S. tariffs, and base effects from last year’s high growth collectively contributed to this result.’,
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, ‘Koh Mi-sook, Director of Social Statistics at Statistics Korea, said, “The manufacturing industry is not doing well, leading to a decrease in employment in areas like electronic components and computers,” adding that the semiconductor sector, which drives exports, has a low job creation coefficient.’,
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, “With more than 4 million jobs, manufacturing is a core industry sustaining our job market. Concerns are growing that if the ‘tariff shock’ from Trump’s tariffs continues while the export growth trend slows, the manufacturing job situation could worsen further.”,
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, ‘The Ministry of Strategy and Finance expressed concerns about the widening decrease in manufacturing employment due to delays in domestic demand recovery and economic sentiment affected by foreign uncertainties like U.S. tariff policies. They warned that prolonged uncertainty could impact related industries and small businesses over time.’,
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, US Trump Tariff Policy (PG)
[Produced by Kim Sun-young] Illustration,
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, ‘Employment in the construction industry decreased by 150,000, continuing a year-long downward trend since last May.’,
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, ‘Employment in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries decreased by 134,000, the largest drop since November 2015 (-172,000) in nine years and five months. Statistics Korea explained that last month’s abnormal weather, such as cold waves, had more influence than large-scale wildfires in the southeast.’,
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, ‘Wholesale and retail employment decreased by 3,000. Although the decrease was smaller than the previous month (-26,000), it marked 14 consecutive months of decline since March last year.’,
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, ‘On the other hand, employment increased in sectors like healthcare and social welfare services (218,000) and professional, scientific, and technical services (113,000).’,
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, ‘How to get a job?’
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Sung-min = The number of ‘young unemployed,’ who lost jobs, are preparing to enter the job market, or are simply resting at home, reached 1.2 million last month. Adding the number of unemployed among the economically active population and those categorized as ‘resting’ or ‘preparing for jobs’ among the economically inactive youth (ages 15-29), the total was 1,207,000.
The photo shows employment-related books on display at a bookstore in Seoul on the 17th. 2025.3.17 [email protected],
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‘Employment Difficulties’ Among Youth Increasing After Endemic, ‘By age group, employment increased by 340,000 and 93,000 among those aged 60 and over and those in their 30s, respectively, while it decreased in other age groups. Notably, employment among people in their 20s decreased by 179,000, marking a significant drop.’,
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, ‘By employment status, regular employees increased by 279,000, temporary employees grew by 52,000, while daily workers decreased by 54,000.’,
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, ‘Among non-wage workers, the number of self-employed with employees decreased by 16,000, while the self-employed without employees increased by 11,000. Unpaid family workers decreased by 77,000.’,
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, ‘The employment rate was 63.2%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points (p) compared to a year ago, and was the highest for the same month on record. The employment rate for those aged 15-64, the OECD comparison standard, rose by 0.3%p to 69.9%.’,
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, ‘The youth employment rate (ages 15-29) was 45.3%, the lowest for the same month since April 2021 (43.5%). It dropped by 0.9 percentage points from a year ago, continuing a 12-month decline.’,
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, ‘The number of unemployed decreased by 31,000 to 854,000.’,
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, ‘The unemployment rate was 2.9% and fell by 0.1 percentage points from a year ago, but the youth unemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points to 7.3%.’,
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, ‘Young People Resting Without Desired Jobs’
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Ji-eun = The number of people ‘just resting’ without working or job-seeking increased by over 240,000 in a year. Among the ‘resting’ youth (ages 15-29), 3 out of 10 answered that they were resting because they couldn’t find the job they wanted. Statistics Korea released the results of the ‘Additional Survey on Non-wage Workers and Economically Inactive Population’ on the 6th. The picture shows the Youth Job Center in Seoul on this day. 2024.11.6 [email protected],
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, ‘Last month, the economically inactive population was 15,979,000, an increase of 18,000 from a year ago.’,
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, “‘Resting’ population increased by 45,000 compared to a year ago. Among them, the number of resting youth increased by 15,000 to 415,000, marking a continuous increase for 12 months.”,
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, ‘The number of youth facing employment difficulties, including the economically inactive ones preparing for jobs or resting and the unemployed among the economically active, was 1,135,000, an increase of 29,000 from a year ago. It had been decreasing annually since the pandemic but is increasing again this year.’,
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, ‘The proportion of youth facing employment difficulties among all youth rose to 14.2% from 13.5% in April last year, although it is lower than the average proportion (14.8%) from 2020 to 2024, according to the government.’,
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, ‘The government plans to sequentially prepare measures to strengthen the competitiveness of key industries and examine the causes of sluggishness in various construction sectors to formulate fundamental solutions.’,
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, ‘They also plan to swiftly implement supplementary budgets to actively respond to employment shocks due to uncertainties from U.S. tariff policies.’,
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