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

 

Production in the industrial sector (+1.5% m-o-m, +1.8% y-o-y), construction (+12.1%, -4.2%) and services (+1.1%, +3.7%) rose, leading to an increase in total industrial production (+1.5%, +1.8%).

 

Retail sales moved up (+0.9% m-o-m, +1.2% y-o-y), while facilities investment went down (-3.6%, -10.3%).

 

Exports in January 2026 climbed by 33.9% year-on-year, supported by strong semiconductor performance. Average daily exports rose by 14.0% in January compared to the same month of last year.

 

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) in January went up by 1.0 points month-on-month to 110.8. The composite business sentiment index (CBSI) decreased by 0.2 points to 94.0 and the CBSI outlook for February rose by 1.0 points to 91.0.

 

The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index for December moved down by 0.2 points and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index moved up by 0.6 points.

 

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

 

The number of employed persons grew by 108,000 compared to the same month last year, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.4%p to 4.1%.

 

The year-on-year consumer price index (CPI) climbed by 2.0%, as the pace of increase in agricultural, livestock and fisheries product prices moderated. The CPI excluding food and energy grew by 2.0% compared to the same month of last year.

 

In January, stock prices increased, 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.

 

Indicators that had recorded strong gains in the third quarter temporarily adjusted in October due to base effects, but resumed a recovery trend from November onward. However, employment difficulties in vulnerable sectors persist, with uncertainties remaining over the pace of recovery in construction investment and the impact of U.S. tariff measures.

 

The global economy faces continued volatility in global financial markets and energy prices, along with concerns over slowing trade and growth, amid a worsening trade environment stemming from tariff measures imposed by major economies and heightened geopolitical uncertainties.

 

With an aim to broaden the momentum of the economic recovery going forward, the government will continue to implement proactive macroeconomic policies and pursue targeted measures to revitalize consumption, investment, and exports. It will also move forward expeditiously with the 2026 Economic Growth Strategy to boost potential growth, promote balanced growth, address economic polarization, and strengthen the foundations for a major economic leap.

 

Key Statistics

Employment

	2025													2026
	Annual	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
Number of employed  (million)	28.77	27.88	28.18	28.59	28.89	29.16	29.09	29.03	28.97	29.15	29.04	29.05	28.21	27.99
Employment rate  (%)	62.9	61.0	61.7	62.5	63.2	63.8	63.6	63.4	63.3	63.7	63.4	63.4	61.5	61.0
(Seasonally adjusted)	62.9	62.9	63.0	63.0	63.1	62.9	62.8	62.8	62.8	63.1	62.9	62.9	62.7	62.8

Consumer Price Index

                                                                                         (%)

 

Retail Sales

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual¹	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4¹
																Oct	Nov¹	Dec¹
Retail sales	-1.3	-0.7	0.4	-1.3	0.8	-2.1	-2.2	-0.3	0.7	-0.4	0.5	0.4	-0.9	1.5	0.8	3.6	-3.2	0.9
(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	0.8	0.4	0.8	1.2

1. Preliminary

Facility Investment Index

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4¹
																Dec¹
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	-1.7	0.0	5.7	-7.9	-3.6
(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	-5.4	-10.3

1. Preliminary

  

Construction Completed

 (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2023					2024					2025
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4¹
																Dec¹
Construction Completed (Constant)	7.8	3.4	-0.4	1.9	-4.2	-4.7	7.7	-8.2	-3.8	-5.1	-16.2	-6.4	-3.2	2.7	-8.7	12.1
(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	-14.3	-4.2

1. Preliminary

Exports and Imports

 (US$ billion, y-o-y, %)

	2023	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Annual	Q2	Q3	Q4		Annual	Q2	Q3	Q4		Jan
						Dec					Dec
Exports	632.23	683.61	171.51	173.65	175.15	61.36	709.41	175.14	184.91	189.83	69.54	65.86
(y-o-y, %)	-7.5	8.1	10.1	10.5	4.2	6.6	3.8	2.1	6.5	8.4	13.3	33.9
Average daily exports	2.34	2.53	2.58	2.53	2.56	2.67	2.64	2.63	2.59	2.85	2.90	2.80
Imports	642.59	631.77	157.04	160.00	159.92	54.88	631.75	154.26	162.44	162.18	57.37	57.12
(y-o-y, %)	-12.1	-1.6	-1.4	6.2	0.9	3.3	-0.0	-1.8	1.5	1.4	4.6	11.7
Average daily imports	2.38	2.34	2.36	2.34	2.33	2.67	2.35	2.32	2.27	2.44	2.39	2.43

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
	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct¹	Nov¹	Dec¹
Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index	99.1	99.3	99.5	99.1	99.1	99.0	99.2	99.4	99.0	98.7	98.5
m-o-m (points)	0.2	0.2	0.2	-0.4	0.0	-0.1	0.2	0.2	-0.4	-0.3	-0.2
Cyclical indicator of leading composite index	100.3	100.5	100.8	100.8	101.0	101.6	102.1	102.2	102.2	102.5	103.1
m-o-m (points)	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.2	0.6	0.5	0.1	0.0	0.3	0.6

1. Preliminary

 

Please refer to the attached files.