Economic Bulletin, January 2025
Current Economic Trends
Overview
In October 2025, retail sales increased, while industrial production, services production, facilities investment, and construction investment declined. In November 2025, employment saw a widening increase in the number of employed persons, and consumer price rose at the same pace as a year earlier.
In October, production in the industrial sector (down 4.0% m-o-m and down 8.1% y-o-y), construction sector (down 20.9% m-o-m and down 24.6% y-o-y) and services sector (down 0.6% m-o-m and up 0.9% y-o-y) fell, leading to a decrease in total industrial sector (down 2.5% m-o-m and down 3.6% y-o-y).
In October, the cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index went down by 0.4 points and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index remained flat.
In October, retail sales increased (up 3.5% m-o-m and up 0.3% y-o-y), while facilities investment decreased (down 14.1% m-o-m and down 4.3% y-o-y).
In November, the Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) went up 2.6 points month-on-month to 112.4. The Composite Business Sentiment Index (CBSI) increased by 1.5 points to 92.1 in November, and the CBSI outlook for December remained unchanged at 91.1.
In November, exports grew by 8.4 percent year-on-year, supported by strong semiconductor performance. Average daily exports rose by 13.3 percent compared to the same month of previous year.
In November, the number of employed persons grew by 225,000 jobs compared to the same month last year and the unemployment rate stood at 2.2 percent, unchanged from a year earlier.
In November, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed by 2.4 percent year-on-year, driven by agricultural products and petroleum prices. The index when excluding food and energy prices grew by 2.0 percent from a year ago.
In November, both housing prices (up 0.24% m-o-m) and Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments) prices also rose (0.14% m-o-m).
In November, Korean equity prices went down, yields for Korean Treasury Bond rose, and the Korean Won weakened against the dollar.
Recently, the Korean economy has shown signs of recovery, moving out of weakness in the first half of the year amid improving domestic demand, including consumption, and strong exports led by semiconductors.
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.
With an aim to broaden growth momentum going forward, the government plans to step up efforts to revitalize domestic demand by thoroughly preparing advance procedures to ensure the swift execution of the 2026 budget from the beginning of next year, while making every effort to enhance growth potential through initiatives such as the AI Transformation, Ultra-innovative Economy flagship projects, and Productive Finance.
