The country's job market finally seems to on a road to recovery,... with a sharp increase in the number of newly added jobs last month... as well as a fall in the unemployment rate.<br />Kim Hyesung reports.<br />The South Korean economy created 419-thousand new jobs on-year in October, adding more than 300-thousand new jobs for the third consecutive month.<br />The employment rate for those aged over 15 reached 61-point-seven percent,...the highest level in 23 years for the month of October.<br />By sector, the number of health and social welfare service, lodging and restaurant jobs saw increases.<br />But the number of new jobs in South Korea's manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and financial sectors fell.<br />In particular, the manufacturing sector saw jobs decrease for the 19th straight month.<br />By age group, those in their 20s, 50s and 60s saw the number of new jobs go up.<br />Those 60 or above saw jobs jump by over 410-thousand, accounting for most of last month's rise.<br />But those in their 30s and 40s saw the number of jobs drop as they are mainly concentrated in the manufacturing and finance sectors.<br />As a whole, the number of unemployed people in South Korea fell to 864-thousand last month.<br />The overall unemployment rate dropped half-a-percentage point on-year to three percent, a low not seen since October 2013.<br />South Korea's youth unemployment rate also dropped more than 1 percentage points to seven-point-two percent, a seven-year low for the month of October.<br />Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the recovery is encouraging, but noted how the manufacturing sector remains sluggish.<br />He added the government will help nurture an extra 100-thousand jobs in smart manufacturing to boost productivity.<br />Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.<br />
