The unemployment rate in South Korea dropped to 3.7 percent in February 2019, compared to 4.4 percent in January 2019 and market expectations of 3.9 percent. It was the lowest jobless rate in eight months. The number of unemployed went down by 192 thousand to 1.033 million, whereas the number of employed climbed by 137 thousand to 27.059 million. The labor force participation rate fell to 63.3 percent from 63.5. Unemployment Rate in South Korea averaged 3.65 percent from 1999 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 7.10 percent in June of 1999 and a record low of 3 percent in September of 2002.
Unemployment Rate in South Korea is expected to be 3.90 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Unemployment Rate in South Korea to stand at 3.70 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the South Korea Unemployment Rate is projected to trend around 3.80 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.