Seoul, July 16
South Korea added more than 180,000 jobs in June, marking the sixth consecutive month of employment growth, but employment in the manufacturing and construction sectors continued to decline, data showed on Wednesday.
The number of employed people reached 29.09 million last month, up 183,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
June's data highlight a continued upward trend in employment following a brief contraction in December, when the country saw a net loss of 52,000 positions, reports news agency.
Since then, the trend has reversed by posting a net increase of 135,000 jobs in January, 136,000 in February, 193,000 in March, 194,000 in April and 245,000 in May.
The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 increased 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier to 70.3 percent in June, while the jobless rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 2.8 percent, the data showed.
The manufacturing sector lost 83,000 jobs from a year earlier in June, extending its downturn to the 12th consecutive month.
The construction sector shed 97,000 jobs over the same period to continue its decline for the 14th straight month.