The number of temporary workers in South Korea decreased by 0.6% year over year to approximately 4.74 million in September 2023, according to data released by Statistics Korea.

When compared to the previous month, the number of temporary workers fell by 0.3% in September 2023. The temporary employment data is not seasonally adjusted.

Further labour market data for South Korea showed that the unemployment rate marked 2.3% in September, down 0.1% year-on-year but up 0.3% over the month.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate stood at 2.6% in September 2023, down from 2.8% in September 2022 but up from the record low of 2.4% in August 2023.

The number of unemployed persons totalled 661,000 people in September, which decreased 42,000 persons or 6.0% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons totalled 28.69 million persons in September, which went up 309,000 persons or 1.1% year-on-year.

By industry, the biggest year-on-year employment increase was seen in the electricity, transport, communication & finance industry (2.0%) and business, personal, public service & other (2.0%). On the other hand, mining and manufacturing (-1.5%) and manufacturing (-1.6%) saw the steepest declines.

Further data from Statistics Korea showed the economically active population marked 29.35 million persons in September, which grew 267,000 persons or 0.9% year-on-year. The labour force participation rate stood at 64.6% in September, up 0.4%p year-on-year.

The economically inactive population totalled 16.07 million people in September, decreasing 120,000 persons or 0.7% year-on-year.