Ministry of Economy and Finance

In April 2025, industrial production, services production, retail sales, and facilities and construction investments all declined.   Overall industrial production fell (-0.8% m-o-m, +0.4% y-o-y) as production dropped in the industrial (-0.9% m-o-m, +4.9% y-o-y), construction (-0.7% m-o-m, -20.5% y-o-y), and services sectors (-0.1% m-o-m, +0.7% y-o-y).   Retail sales (-0.9% m-o-m, -0.1% y-o-y), facilities investment (-0.4% m-o-m, +8.4% y-o-y) and construction investment (-0.7% m-o-m, -20.5% y-o-y) all went down.   Exports in May 2025 decreased by 1.3% year-on-year. However, average daily exports increased by 1.0% in May compared to the same month of last year.   The consumer sentiment index (CSI) in May rose by 8.0 points month-on-month to 101.8. The composite business sentiment index (CBSI) increased by 2.8 points to 90.7, the CBSI outlook for June also rose by 3.2 points to 89.5.   Both the cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index for April went up by 0.2 points and 0.3 points respectively.   In May, the increase in the number of employed persons widened and consumer prices rose at a slower pace.   The number of employed persons grew by 245,000 compared to the same month last year, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.2%p from a year ago.   The year-on-year consumer price index (CPI) climbed by 1.9%, driven by a larger decline in agricultural and petroleum product prices and a smaller increase in prices for personal services. The CPI excluding food and energy moved up by 2.0% year-on-year.   In May, stock prices went up, Korean Treasury Bond yields rose and the Korean won strengthened.   In April, housing prices dropped (-0.02%, m-o-m) while Jeonse[1] prices remained stable (+0.00%, m-o-m).   Recently, the Korean economy has continued to face downward pressure, as the recovery of domestic demand – including consumption and construction investment – remains sluggish, while employment challenges persist particularly in vulnerable sectors. In addition, external conditions have worsened due to the imposition of tariffs by the United States, leading to a slowdown in exports.   The global economy is facing sustained volatility in global financial markets and concerns over slower trade and growth, primarily owing to the worsening trade conditions driven by tariff measures imposed by major economies.   The government will swiftly formulate and implement a supplementary budget aimed at supporting economic recovery, boosting consumption, and assisting vulnerable groups and small businesses. At the same time, all efforts will be made to respond to trade risks, including support measures for domestic companies affected by U.S. tariff measures. [1] lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments Key Statistics Employment   2024                                         2025 Annual Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Number of employed  (million) 28.58 28.40 28.69 28.91 28.91 28.86 28.80   28.84 28.85 28.82 28.04 27.88 28.18 28.59 28.89 29.16 Employment  rate  (%) 62.7 62.4 63.0 63.5 63.5 63.3 63.2    63.3 63.3 63.2 61.4 61.0 61.7 62.5 63.2 63.8 (Seasonally adjusted)  62.7 62.8 62.9 62.6 62.6 62.6 62.7    62.8 62.7 62.7 62.3 62.9 63.0 63.0 63.1 62.9 Consumer Price Index                                                                                          (%)   2024                                    2025 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar  Apr    May y-o-y  2.8 3.1 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.4 2.6 2.0 1.6 1.3 1.5 1.9 2.2 2.0 2.1 2.1 1.9 m-o-m 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.0 0.1 -0.2 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.0 -0.3 0.4 0.7 0.3 0.2 0.1 -0.1   Retail Sales (Percentage change from the previous period, %)   2023   2024                                               2025 Annual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Annual Q1 Q2 Q3  Q4  Q1¹  Apr¹  Jan Feb  Mar¹ Retail sales -1.5 0.6 -0.5 -1.9 0.4 -2.1 -2.2 -0.3 0.7 -0.4 0.4 -0.6 1.8 -1.0 -0.9      (y-o-y) - -0.8 -0.7 -2.7 -1.9 - -1.6 -3.1 -1.5  -2.0 -0.3 0.2 -1.8 0.7 -0.1 1. Preliminary Facility Investment Index (Percentage change from the previous period, %)   2023                                    2024             2025 Annual Q1 Q2   Q3 Q4 Annual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4      Q1¹     Apr¹     Feb     Mar¹ Facility investment index -4.8 -9.0 1.5 -3.8 5.0 3.0 -1.5 -1.4 10.2 -1.8 -1.7 21.3 -0.6 -0.4 (y-o-y) - -1.5 -0.9 -10.5 -5.8 - -1.4 -3.3 11.5 5.3 5.6 8.0 14.5 8.4 1. Preliminary    Construction Completed  (Percentage change from the previous period, %)   2023                                    2024                                           2025   Annual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4   Annual      Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4         Q1¹        Jan       Feb¹       Mar¹ Construction Completed (Constant) 7.8 3.4 -0.4 1.9 -4.2 -4.7 7.7 -8.2 -3.8 -5.1 -6.1 -4.5 2.4 -2.7 (y-o-y) - 12.0 9.5 10.8 0.8 - 4.0 -3.1 -9.1 -9.7 -20.7 -27.4 -20.2 -14.7 1. Preliminary Exports and Imports  (US$ billion, y-o-y, %)   2023 2024 2025 Annual       Q4 Annual         Q1         Q2          Q3 Q4         Q1          Mar                  Apr      May        Mar Exports 632.23 168.12 683.61 163.30 56.52 171.51 173.65 175.15 159.85 58.12 58.21 57.27 (y-o-y, %) -7.5 5.7 8.1 8.0 3.0 10.1 10.5 4.2 -2.1 2.8 3.7 -1.3 Average daily exports 2.34 2.49 2.53 2.44 2.51 2.58 2.53 2.56 2.50 2.65 2.43 2.66 Imports 642.59 158.56 631.77 154.81 52.42 157.04 160.00 159.92 152.57 53.28 53.30 50.33 (y-o-y, %) -12.1 -10.7 -1.6 -11.1 -12.6 -1.4 6.2 0.9 -1.4 2.2 -2.7 -5.3 Average daily imports 2.38 2.35 2.34 2.31 2.33 2.36 2.34 2.33 2.38 2.42 2.22 2.34 Industrial Production (Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production)                 (Percentage change from the previous period, %) 2022 2023  2024          2025 Annual Annual   Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Annual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1¹ Apr¹ Total Production2 m-o-m, q-o-q - - 0.6 2.8 1.4 1.8 - -0.8 1.8 -0.5 1.5 0.2 -0.9 y-o-y 1.0 -2.6 -8.2 -6.0 -0.5 4.8 4.1 5.3 5.2 2.4 3.5 1.9 4.9 Manufacturing Production m-o-m, q-o-q - - 0.6 3.0 1.4 1.9 - -0.8 1.8 -0.8 2.1 0.1 -0.9 y-o-y 1.0 -2.6 -8.5 -6.1 -0.3 5.2 4.2 5.8 5.3 2.2 3.7 2.0 5.2 Shipments (m-o-m, q-o-q) - - 0.3 3.0 -1.3 2.0 - -2.8 1.8 -1.0 0.8 -1.8 0.9 Inventory3 (m-o-m, q-o-q) - - 1.2 0.6 1.5 -5.2 - -2.1 -0.5 0.1 -0.5 -4.6 0.0 Production capacity (y-o-y) 0.1 -0.5 -1.4 -1.5 -0.6 1.5 0.7 1.0 0.9 0.4 0.6 -0.6 0.0 Average operation ratio4 74.5 72.1 70.9 72.2 72.5 72.7 72.7 72.4 73.4 72.5 72.5 73.5 73.8   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, %)   2022 2023                                            2024                         2025 Annual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Annual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4  Annual¹  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1¹  Apr¹ Jan  Feb  Mar¹ Service output 7.0 0.6 3.4 1.8 0.1 3.4 0.7 0.5 1.0 0.3 1.0  0.3 0.0     -0.3    0.7 0.3  -0.9 0.8  -0.1  -0.1     1. Preliminary Composite Indices of Coincident and Leading Indicators                                                                                            (Points)    2024                                2025 Jun Jul Aug Sep  Oct Nov Dec¹ Jan Feb Mar¹ Apr¹ Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index 99.6 99.1 99.0 99.0 99.3 98.9 98.8 98.4 98.5 98.7 98.9 m-o-m (points) -0.1 -0.5 -0.1 0.0 0.3 -0.4 -0.1 -0.4 0.1 0.2 0.2 Cyclical indicator of leading composite index 100.9 100.9 100.8 100.8 100.8 100.8 100.7 100.3 100.4 100.6 100.9 m-o-m (points) 0.1 0.0 -0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 -0.1 -0.4 0.1 0.2 0.3 1. Preliminary   Please refer to the attached files.

Statistics Korea released report on the 'Economically active population survey' on June 11, 2025. The economically active population marked 30.012 million persons in May, which grew 213 thousand persons or 0.7% year-on-year. Please refer to the attached PDF.

1.    In May 2025, the employment rate for those aged 15 and above was 63.8%, up 0.3%p from the previous year, and the employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 reached 70.5%, rising by 0.5%p year-on-year. The labor force participation rate stood at 65.6%, increasing by 0.2%p from the previous year, and the unemployment rate was 2.8%, showing a 0.2%p decline from a year ago.   * Employment Indicators for May (2024→2025, %):      Employment rate:  63.5 → 63.8       Labor force participation rate: 65.4 → 65.6     Unemployment rate: 3.0 → 2.8   By age group, the employment rate picked up for those in their 30s (81.2%, +1.1%p), 40s (80.2%, +1.0%p), and those aged 60 and over (48.3%, +0.9%p), while it decreased for the youth (46.2%, -0.7%p) and those in their 50s (77.6%, -0.5%p).   2.    The number of employed persons went up by 245,000 compared to the previous year. By industry, employment moved up in the service sector (+606,000 → +549,000), whereas it moved down in construction (-150,000 → -106,000), manufacturing (-124,000 → -67,000) and agriculture, forestry and fisheries (-134,000→ -135,000). By employment status, both regular (+279,000 → +362,000) and temporary workers (+52,000 → +25,000) continued to rise, while daily workers went down (-54,000 → -59,000).   * Growth/decline in the number of employed persons (year-on-year, ten thousand):    (Apr, 2024) +26.1  (May) +8.0  (Jun) +9.6  (H2, 2024) +9.9  (Jan, 2025) +13.5  (Feb) +13.6  (Mar) +19.3                                                                                                                                         (Apr) +19.4  (May) +24.5   3.    The number of employed persons recorded double-digit growth for the fifth consecutive month, marking the largest gain in 13 months since April 2024 (+261,000). The labor force participation rate and employment rate for those aged 15 and over, as well as the employment rate for those aged 15-64 (70.5%), all reached all-time highs on a monthly basis since statistics began. Notably, the employment rate for those 15-64 age group surpassed 70% for the first time in 12 months.   By industry, the easing of declines in the manufacturing and construction sectors contributed to the overall increase in employment. In manufacturing, the decline in employment narrowed due to factors such as an increase in average daily exports. In construction, the contraction moderated largely due to a base effect from a sharp drop in employment in May 2024 (+5,000 in April 2024 → -47,000 in May 2024).    The service sector maintained a solid upward trend, although the pace of growth slowed compared to the previous month. Employment in public administration and health and social  services   continued to rise, supported by direct job creation programs and growing demand for care services. In contrast, employment in accommodation and food services fell for the first time in 15 months,   reflecting sustained weakness in domestic demand.    Although labor market conditions for young people remain challenging as indicated in continued drops in youth employment (-174,000 → -150,000) and the youth employment rate (-0.9%p →   -0.7%p), the pace of decline has moderated compared to the previous month.   4.    The government plans to further intensify its policy efforts to boost job creation through revitalizing domestic demand and nurturing emerging industries, while also enhancing employment opportunities for vulnerable groups such as the youth.   Significant efforts will be made to support economic recovery and bolster consumer purchasing power through the prompt formulation of a supplementary budget proposal.   The government will also expand its capacity to create quality private-sector jobs over the mid- to long term by focusing on the development of next-generation high-tech industries such as AI.   Furthermore, the government will steadily implement youth employment programs such as work experience opportunities and vocational training to ensure employment stability for vulnerable groups including young people, and at the same time continuously strengthen employment services for unemployed and economically inactive youth. Please refer to the attached files.