SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s unemployment rate rose in September from a record low set in August while employment fell slightly, data showed on Friday, a sign that a year-long policy tightening campaign and slowing exports have begun to cool the economy.
The country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rebounded to 2.8% in September from 2.5% in August, which was the lowest since the data series began in June 1999. However, it was still far below an average of 3.6% set in all of 2021.
The employment rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 62.2% in September from August after adjusting for seasonal factors, the Statistics Korea data showed.
The country’s central bank has raised the policy interest rate by a combined 250 basis points since August last year, including a bigger-than-usual 50 basis-point hike on Wednesday, in its fight to rein in inflation.
Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong said after the rate decision on Wednesday that Asia’s fourth-largest economy has begun softening, although economists expect it to raise the rate further in the coming months.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger & Shri Navaratnam)