SEOUL: South Korea's unemployment rate fell in October from a month earlier and the number of new jobs nearly doubled, in a sign of sound economic fundamentals despite global turmoil, figures showed Wednesday.
The jobless rate was 2.9 percent last month compared to 3 percent in September, Statistics Korea said. The rate also fell from 3.3 percent in October 2010.
The economy gained 501,000 jobs year-on-year in October compared with 264,000 in September.
"Employment conditions remain favourable despite uncertainties about external conditions," the finance ministry said in a statement, predicting a further improvement in November due mainly to hiring in the services sector.
The government is still predicting GDP growth of 4.5 percent this year, although most private economists expect the figure to fall below 4 percent.
Officials say fourth-quarter growth will likely be better than the third quarter, although they note significant downside risks to the export-dominated economy as the eurozone debt crisis continues.
The economy grew 0.7 percent in the third quarter compared to April-June and 3.4 percent year-on-year.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.