Key facts
- The jobless rate was 2 percent in October, down 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier, the ministry said.
- The number of unemployed people totaled 602,000 in October, down 56,000 from the same month in 2025.
- The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 was 70.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier.
- The employment rate for people aged 15 to 29 fell 1.7 percentage points to 42.9 percent.
South Korea added 139,000 jobs in October from a year earlier, the Ministry of Data and Statistics reported on November 11, 2026, with job growth exceeding 100,000 for a fourth consecutive month. The number of employed people came to 29.17 million, compared with 29.04 million a year earlier.
Job growth turned positive in June after declining by 40,000 in May, the first drop in 17 months. The jobless rate came to 2 percent in October, down 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier, and the number of unemployed people totaled 602,000, down 56,000 from the same month in 2025.
The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 came to 70.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier. The figure for those aged 15 to 29 fell 1.7 percentage points to 42.9 percent.