SEOUL, Hiring of wage worker jobs in South Korea grew at a slower pace in the third quarter of 2023 amid an economic slowdown, and newly added paid employee jobs for people in their 40s fell for the first time in four years, data showed Wednesday.

The number of paid employee jobs came to 20.54 million as of August 2023, up 346,000 from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The country has seen slower on-year employment growth for seven quarters in a row through the July-September period of last year since the beginning of 2022.

By age, jobs for those in their 40s inched down 0.1 percent on-year in the third quarter, or 4,000 jobs, the first decline since 2019, when the country lost 26,000 jobs for the age group.

The agency said the fall came as the total number of people in the age bracket went down 1.5 percent on-year last year to 7.96 million.

Paid worker jobs for people in their 20s and younger went down 2.5 percent, or 80,000 jobs, extending the losing streak for the fourth qua
rter.

But 269,000 positions were added for people in their 60s or older. It marked 8.3 percent on-year growth.

By sector, the manufacturing sector gained 50,000 more jobs on rising demand for transportation equipment, vehicles and part fields, in particular.

The health and social welfare segment also had 105,000 more jobs.

But the real estate sector shed 6,000 jobs amid the property market slump, the data showed.

Source: Yonhap News Agency