The number of temporary workers in South Korea fell by 3.3% year over year to approximately 4.7 million in May 2023, according to data released by Statistics Korea.

When compared to the previous month, the number of temporary workers rose slightly by 1.43% in May 2023. The temporary employment data is not seasonally adjusted.

Further labour market data from Statistics Korea showed that the unemployment rate marked 2.7% in May, down 0.3% year-on-year.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate stood at 2.5% in May, down 0.4% from the year prior and down 0.1% from the month prior.

The number of unemployed persons totalled 787,000 people in May, which decreased by 102,000 persons or 11.5% year-on-year.

At the same time, the number of employed persons totalled 28.8 million persons in May, up by 351,000 persons or 1.2% year-on-year.

The employment-to-population ratio recorded 63.5% in May, up 0.5% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, by industry, business, personal, public service & other saw an increase of 2.9% over the year, the highest among industries. Conversely, the construction industry decreased by 3.0%.

The economically active population marked 29.6 million persons in May, growing by 249,000 persons or 0.8% year-on-year. The labour force participation rate stood at 65.3% in May, up 0.4% year-on-year.