The number of temporary workers in South Korea increased by 0.2% year over year to approximately 4.46 million in December 2023, according to data released by Statistics Korea.

When compared to the previous month, the number of temporary workers fell by 6.7% in December 2023. The temporary employment data is not seasonally adjusted.

Further labour market data also showed that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.3%, up from 3.1% the year prior and from 2.8% the month before.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate marked 3.3% in December 2023, from 3.0% the year prior and from 2.3% the month prior.

The number of unemployed persons totalled 944,000 people in December, which increased 78,000 persons or 9.0% year-on-year.

The number of employed persons totalled 28.093 million persons in December, which went up 285,000 persons or 1.0%, year-on-year.

By sector, the construction sector and the electricity, transport, communication & finance sector both saw a 3.4% increase, the highest during the period. Conversely, agriculture, forestry & fishing reported a decline of 2.0%

The labour force participation rate stood at 63.8% in December, up 0.5% year-on-year. The economically active population marked 29.037 million persons in December, which grew 363,000 persons or 1.3%, year-on-year.