Global Biz

ROK's jobless rate fixed at 3.4% in Sept

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-20 16:11

SEOUL - South Korea's job market showed signs of stabilization in September, with the monthly jobless rate staying steady, amid an economic recovery in the local economy, a government report showed Wednesday.

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According to the report by Statistics Korea, the nation's overall jobless rate posted 3.4 percent in September, unchanged from a month ago.

The jobless rate has been steadily flattening for six straight months, moving within the 3 percent range after falling from 4.3 percent in March.

Although the nation's public sector, in which the government vowed to create more jobs, saw the number of jobs decrease by 196,000 in September, 445,000 positions were newly created in the private sector, offsetting the public sector's decrease, the statistical office explained.

The finance ministry echoed the explanation, saying more public sector jobs will be gone, but the number of new positions created should exceed 300,000 in October.

Amid the overall stabilizing move, however, the jobless rate among young people between 15 and 29 again went up, rising to 7.2 percent from the previous month's 7.0 percent.