South Korea's employment figures for the month of August are out,... and they don't paint such a rosy picture for the country's already struggling job market.<br />Kim Hyesung reports.<br />Around 452-thousand jobs were added on-year in August the biggest jump since March 2017.<br />According to Statistics Korea, it is the first job increase of more than 300-thousand since January<br />2018.<br />The employment rate for those aged 15 and above recorded 61-point-four percent, up point-five percentage points on-year.<br />Statistics Korea attributed the job growth to a base effect as only three-thousand jobs were added in August 2018.<br />The number of people unemployed also fell by more than 270-thousand to less than 860-thousand people, making it the biggest monthly drop in more than eight years.<br />That brought the unemployment rate down one percentage point to three percent, the lowest level in nearly six years in August<br />The youth unemployment rate also fell near three percentage points on-year to seven-point-two percent last month.<br />By age group, those in their 20s, 50s and 60s saw job creation go up, but those in their 30s and 40s still saw job creation fall.<br />This comes mainly as many of the jobs created were in health and social welfare services, which went up by 174-thousand.<br />But the manufacturing sector continued to see job creation fall for the 17th consecutive month, down 24-thousand on-year.<br />Finance sector jobs also fell for the eighth consecutive month.<br />Retail and wholesale jobs dropped more than 50-thousand.<br />Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.<br />
