The unemployment rate in South Korea jumped to 4.4 percent in January 2019 from 3.8 percent in December 2018 and 3.6 percent in January 2018. It was the highest jobless rate in nine years. The number of unemployed went up by 159 thousand to 1.225 million, whereas the number of employed climbed by 58 thousand to 26.922 million. The labor force participation rate jumped to 63.5 percent from 63.0. 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.