In November 2025, industrial production, services production, facilities investment and construction investment increased, while retail sales declined.

 

Production in the industrial sector (+0.6% m-o-m, -1.4% y-o-y), construction (+6.6%, -17.0%) and services (+0.7%, +3.0%) rose, leading to an increase in total industrial production (+0.9%, +0.3%).

 

Retail sales decreased (-3.3% m-o-m, +0.8% y-o-y), while facilities investment went up (+1.5%, -0.1%).

 

Exports in December 2025 climbed by 13.4% year-on-year, supported by strong semiconductor performance. Average daily exports rose by 8.7% in December compared to the same month of last year.

 

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) in December went down by 2.5 points month-on-month to 109.9. The composite business sentiment index (CBSI) increased by 1.6 points to 93.7 and the CBSI outlook for January fell by 1.7 points to 89.4.

 

The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index for November moved down by 0.4 points and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index moved up by 0.3 points.

 

In December, the increase in the number of employed persons moderated, with consumer prices rising at a slower pace.

 

The number of employed persons grew by 168,000 compared to the same month last year, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.3%p to 4.1%.

 

The year-on-year consumer price index (CPI) climbed by 2.3%, driven by increases in agricultural products and petroleum prices. The CPI excluding food and energy grew by 2.0% compared to the same month of last year.

 

In December, stock prices went up, Korean Treasury Bond yields rose and the Korean won weakened.

 

In December, both housing prices (+0.26%, m-o-m) and Jeonse[1] prices rose (+0.28%, m-o-m).

 

Recently, the Korean economy has continued to show a recovery trend, supported by improvements in domestic demand such as consumption and strong export performance led by semiconductors.

 

However, amid heightened month-to-month volatility – as indicators that recorded sharp increases in the third quarter have undergone some adjustment due to base effects and extended holidays – hiring difficulties in vulnerable sectors persist, and uncertainties remain regarding the pace of recovery in construction investment and the impact of U.S. tariff measures.

 

The global economy continues to face volatility in global financial markets and concerns over slowing trade and growth, due in part to a deteriorating trade environment following tariff measures by major economies and geopolitical uncertainties.

 

With an aim to broaden growth momentum going forward, the government will continue to pursue proactive macroeconomic policies and efforts to revitalize consumption, investment, and exports, while expeditiously implementing the 2026 Economic Growth Strategy to boost potential growth, promoting balanced and inclusive growth, overcoming polarization, and strengthening the foundation for a major economic leap forward.

Key Statistics

Employment

	2024		2025
	Annual	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Number of employed  (million)	28.58	28.04	27.88	28.18	28.59	28.89	29.16	29.09	29.03	28.97	29.15	29.04	29.05	28.21
Employment rate  (%)	62.7	61.4	61.0	61.7	62.5	63.2	63.8	63.6	63.4	63.3	63.7	63.4	63.4	61.5
(Seasonally adjusted)	62.7	62.3	62.9	63.0	63.0	63.1	62.9	62.8	62.8	62.8	63.1	62.8	62.8	62.4

Consumer Price Index

                                                                                         (%)

 

Retail Sales

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2	Q3	Sep	Oct¹	Nov¹
Retail sales	-1.3	-0.7	0.4	-1.3	0.8	-2.1	-2.2	-0.3	0.7	-0.4	0.4	-0.9	1.5	-0.1	3.6	-3.3
(y-o-y)	-	-1.4	-0.4	-2.6	-1.2	-	-1.6	-3.1	-1.5	-2.0	-0.3	0.0	1.5	2.2	0.4	0.8

1. Preliminary

Facility Investment Index

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2	Q3	Oct¹	Nov¹
Facility investment index	-4.8	-9.0	1.5	-3.8	3.5	2.9	-1.5	-1.4	10.2	-1.8	-1.7	0.0	5.7	-14.1	1.5
(y-o-y)	-	-1.5	-0.9	-10.5	-5.8	-	-1.4	-3.3	11.5	5.3	5.7	5.3	1.9	-4.3	-0.1

1. Preliminary

  

Construction Completed

 (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2	Q3	Oct¹	Nov¹
Construction Completed (Constant)	7.8	3.4	-0.4	1.9	-4.2	-4.7	7.7	-8.2	-3.8	-5.1	-6.4	-3.2	2.7	-21.1	6.6
(y-o-y)	-	12.0	9.5	10.8	0.8	-	4.0	-3.1	-9.1	-9.7	-21.2	-17.4	-11.8	-24.8	-17.0

1. Preliminary

Exports and Imports

 (US$ billion, y-o-y, %)

	2023	2024					2025
	Annual	Annual	Q2	Q3	Q4		Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Nov	Dec
						Dec
Exports	632.23	683.61	171.51	173.65	175.15	61.36	159.54	175.13	184.91	190.11	61.03	69.58
(y-o-y, %)	-7.5	8.1	10.1	10.5	4.2	6.6	-2.3	2.1	6.5	8.5	8.4	13.4
Average daily exports	2.34	2.53	2.58	2.53	2.56	2.67	2.49	2.63	2.59	2.86	2.71	2.90
Imports	642.59	631.77	157.04	160.00	159.92	54.88	152.79	154.26	162.44	162.18	51.30	57.40
(y-o-y, %)	-12.1	-1.6	-1.4	6.2	0.9	3.3	-1.3	-1.8	1.5	1.4	1.2	4.6
Average daily imports	2.38	2.34	2.36	2.34	2.33	2.67	2.49	2.63	2.59	2.86	2.28	2.90

Industrial Production (Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production)

                (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

  1. Preliminary

  2. Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production

  3. End-point (month, quarter, and year)

  4. Average operation ratio for the month (or quarter)

  

Service Output

           (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

    1. Preliminary

Composite Indices of Coincident and Leading Indicators

                                                                                           (Points)

	2025
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep¹	Oct¹	Nov¹
Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index	98.9	99.1	99.3	99.5	99.1	99.1	99.0	99.2	99.4	99.0	98.6
m-o-m (points)	-0.4	0.2	0.2	0.2	-0.4	0.0	-0.1	0.2	0.2	-0.4	-0.4
Cyclical indicator of leading composite index	100.2	100.2	100.3	100.8	100.8	101.0	101.6	102.1	102.2	102.2	102.5
m-o-m (points)	-0.3	-0.3	0.1	0.3	0.0	0.2	0.6	0.5	0.1	0.0	0.3

1. Preliminary

 

Please refer to the attached files.