In February 2025, industrial and services production, retail sales, facilities and construction investments all increased.

 

The entire industrial production moved up (+0.6% m-o-m, +1.2% y-o-y), as production rose in the industrial (+1.0% m-o-m, +7.0% y-o-y), services (+0.5% m-o-m, +0.8% y-o-y), and construction (+1.5% m-o-m, -21.0% y-o-y) sectors.

 

Retail sales (+1.5% m-o-m, -2.3% y-o-y), facilities investment (+18.7% m-o-m, +7.7% y-o-y) and construction investment (+1.5% m-o-m, -21.0% y-o-y) all climbed up.

 

Exports in March 2025 grew by 3.1% year-on-year (a second consecutive monthly increase). Average daily exports also surged by 5.5% in March compared to the same month of last year.

 

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) in March fell by 1.8 points month-on-month to 93.4. Although the composite business sentiment index (CBSI) increased by 1.4 points to 86.7, the CBSI outlook for April dropped by 2.4 points to 85.6.

 

Both the cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index for February went up by 0.1 points respectively.

 

In March, the increase in the number of employed persons widened and consumer price growth rose at a faster pace.

 

The number of employed persons grew by 193,000 compared to the same month last year, and the unemployment rate edged up by 3.1% from a year ago.

 

The year-on-year consumer price index (CPI) climbed to 2.1% due to increases in processed food and public service prices, despite a slowdown in price increases of agricultural, livestock, fisheries and petroleum products. The CPI excluding the food and energy sectors rose by 1.9%.

 

In March, stock prices went down, Korean Treasury Bond yields fell and the Korean won weakened.

 

In February, housing prices (-0.06%, m-o-m) and Jeonse[1] prices all moved down (-0.01%, m-o-m).

 

Recently, the Korean economy has faced mounting downward pressure, as the recovery of domestic demand – particularly in consumption and construction investment – remains sluggish, while employment challenges persist in vulnerable sectors. These difficulties have been further compounded by deteriorating external conditions stemming from the imposition of tariffs by the United States.

 

The global economy is facing heightened concerns over increased volatility in global financial markets and a slowdown in trade and growth, primarily due to the worsening trade environment following tariff impositions by major economies.

 

Along with all-out efforts to respond to trade risks – promptly implementing an essential supplementary budget to support Korean companies affected by U.S. tariffs and to strengthen industrial competitiveness – the government is also continuing and reinforcing measures to revitalize the real economy, including support for job creation, construction, and small businesses.

Key Statistics

Employment

	2024												2025
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar
Number of employed  (million)	27.74	28.04	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
Employment  rate  (%)	61.0	61.6	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
(Seasonally adjusted)	62.8	63.0	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

Consumer Price Index

                                                                                         (%)

 

Retail Sales

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2022					2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Jan¹	Feb¹
Retail sales	-0.3	-0.9	-0.7	0.8	-1.5	-1.5	0.6	-0.5	-1.9	0.4	-2.1	-2.2	-0.3	0.7	-0.4	-0.7	1.5
(y-o-y)	-	2.6	-0.2	-0.9	-2.3	-	-0.8	-0.7	-2.7	-1.9	-	-1.6	-3.1	-1.5	-2.0	0.0	-2.3

1. Preliminary

Facility Investment Index

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2022					2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Jan¹	Feb¹
Facility investment index	2.6	2.6	0.8	6.1	1.5	-4.8	-9.0	1.5	-3.8	5.0	3.0	-1.5	-1.4	10.2	-1.8	-15.7	18.7
(y-o-y)	-	-0.9	-3.5	5.9	9.2	-	-1.5	-0.9	-10.5	-5.8	-	-1.4	-3.3	11.5	5.3	-5.1	7.7

1. Preliminary

  

Construction Completed

 (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2022					2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Jan¹	Feb¹
Construction Completed (Constant)	2.6	-0.7	1.7	0.8	5.8	7.8	3.4	-0.4	1.9	-4.2	-4.7	7.7	-8.2	-3.8	-5.1	-4.6	1.5
(y-o-y)	-	-1.9	1.5	3.3	6.5	-	12.0	9.5	10.8	0.8	-	4.0	-3.1	-9.1	-9.7	-27.4	-21.0

1. Preliminary

Exports and Imports

 (US$ billion, y-o-y, %)

	2023					2024						2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1		Q2	Q3	Q4	Feb	Mar
								Mar
Exports	632.23	151.22	155.78	157.10	168.12	683.69	163.30	56.52	171.51	173.65	175.15	52.45	58.28
(y-o-y, %)	-7.5	-12.8	-12.0	-9.7	5.7	8.1	8.0	3.0	10.1	10.5	4.2	0.7	3.1
Average daily exports	2.34	2.24	2.33	2.29	2.49	2.53	2.44	2.51	2.58	2.53	2.56	2.39	2.65
Imports	642.59	174.04	159.25	150.72	158.56	632.10	154.81	52.42	157.04	160.00	159.92	48.30	53.30
(y-o-y, %)	-12.1	-2.2	-13.2	-21.6	-10.7	-1.6	-11.1	-12.6	-1.4	6.2	0.9	0.2	2.3
Average daily imports	2.38	2.58	2.38	2.20	2.35	2.34	2.31	2.33	2.36	2.34	2.33	2.20	2.42

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)

	2024										2025
	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec¹	Jan¹	Feb¹
Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index	100.1	100.0	99.7	99.6	99.1	99.0	99.0	99.3	98.9	98.8	98.4	98.5
m-o-m (points)	-0.2	-0.1	-0.3	-0.1	-0.5	-0.1	0.0	0.3	-0.4	-0.1	-0.4	0.1
Cyclical indicator of leading composite index	100.5	100.7	100.8	100.9	100.9	100.8	100.8	100.8	100.8	100.7	100.3	100.4
m-o-m (points)	-0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.0	-0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	-0.1	-0.4	0.1

1. Preliminary

 

Please refer to the attached files.