South Korea added 108,000 jobs in July compared with a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday, marking the second consecutive month of employment gains even as the manufacturing sector continued to shed positions.

The total number of employed people reached 29.13 million in July, up from 29.02 million a year earlier, according to data released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Job growth had returned to positive territory in June with an increase of 63,000 positions. That followed a decline of 40,000 jobs in May, which had been the first drop in 17 months.

The country's unemployment rate stood at 2.6 percent in July, up 0.2 percentage point from the same period a year ago. The number of unemployed people totaled 776,000 last month, an increase of 50,000 from the previous year.

Among those aged 15 to 64, the employment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 70.3 percent. However, the employment rate for the 15-to-29 age group fell by 1.6 percentage points to 44.2 percent, a trend that reflects broader labor-market challenges for younger workers in an economy where service-sector hiring has been expanding while goods-producing industries contract.

The report also showed that manufacturing-sector employment declined by 68,000 positions year-on-year in July, underscoring persistent weakness in a key segment of the economy. Manufacturing has long been a cornerstone of South Korea's export-driven economy, home to major global producers of semiconductors, automobiles, and electronics, and sustained job losses in the sector carry implications for the country's broader growth trajectory.

Source: Korea Herald Business (Yonhap)