▲ A cashier works at a convenience store in Seoul, in this file photo taken Jan. 15, 2023. (Yonhap)

jobless rate-January

S. Korea adds 411,000 jobs on-year in January

SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea added jobs for the 23rd straight month in January, data showed Wednesday, but the growth continued to slow for the eighth consecutive month.

The number of employed people stood at 27.36 million last month, up some 411,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The January figure marked a decrease from 509,000 jobs added in December.

South Korea's jobless rate moved down 0.5 percentage point on-year to 3.6 percent in January, the data showed.

The latest performance came amid the country's aggressive monetary tightening move aimed at taming inflation. A hike in borrowing costs typically weighs down employment as businesses and households cut their spending.

Last month, the Bank of Korea raised the benchmark seven-day repo rate from 3.25 percent to 3.5 percent, the highest level since 2008. It was the seventh straight rate increase since April last year, the longest span of tightening.

In 2022, South Korea added 816,000 jobs on-year, driven by the post-pandemic recovery. The finance ministry said it expects job growth to reach only 100,000 in 2023 due to the slowing economy and the declining population.

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]