S. Korea adds 108,000 new jobs in July; manufacturing employment remains weak

South Korea added 108,000 jobs in July compared to a year earlier, according to government data released on August 12. This marks the second consecutive month of job growth, after a decline in June. The total number of employed people reached 29.13 million in July, up from 29.02 million a year earlier, as reported by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Job growth turned positive again in June, increasing by 63,000 after a drop of 40,000 in May, which was the first decline in 17 months. The country's jobless rate stood at 2.6 percent in July, up 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier. The number of unemployed people totaled 776,000, rising by 50,000 compared to the previous year.

The employment rate for individuals aged 15 to 64 was 70.3 percent, an increase of 0.1 percentage point over the period. However, the employment rate for those aged 15 to 29 fell by 1.6 percentage points to 44.2 percent. The report revealed that the manufacturing sector shed 68,000 jobs on-year in July.