SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment growth hit the lowest in eight and a half years, reflecting the freezing labor market despite the government efforts to create decent jobs, a government report showed Friday.
The number of those employed totaled 27,083,000 in July, up 5,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
It was the lowest on-year increase since January 2010 when the economy was influenced by the foreign exchange crisis.
The on-year job growth hovered around 100,000 from February to June, before falling below 10,000 in the previous month. In 2017, the average on-year employment growth was 316,000.
The worsening labor market conditions came amid the government efforts to create jobs, especially for youths.
President Moon Jae-in, who took office in May last year, said his top policy priority would be placed on job creation, but it had yet to take effect.
The Moon government unveiled a supplementary budget plan of 3.9 trillion won (3.7 billion U.S. dollars) to create some 50,000 decent jobs for youths this year, and to help laid-off workers in southern regions where shipbuilders and automakers are under the restructuring process.
The number of workers hired by manufacturers reduced 127,000, or 2.7 percent, in July from a year earlier. Jobs in the business facility management and rental services sector posted the biggest fall since January 2014.
The number in the wholesale and retail industry as well as the lodging and eatery sector declined last month amid the scorching heatwave that discouraged people from going outside for shopping and outing.
The educational services sector recorded a slump of 78,000 jobs amid the falling number of children of school age. Jobs in the real estate industry shrank 40,000 last month.
Jobs in the healthcare and social welfare services sector grew 149,000, or 7.7 percent, in the cited period. The figure for the finance and insurance industry gained 67,000, or 8.6 percent, in the month.
