Invest KOREA

In October, the economy continued to add jobs, and the consumer prices also grew at a faster pace. 677,000 jobs were added year-on-year in October, and the unemployment rate fell to 2.4 percent by 0.4 percentage points from a year ago. The consumer prices grew by 5.7 percent year-on-year in October at a faster pace than the previous month due to an increase in public charge, and the core inflation rose by 4.8 percent.

In October, stock prices increased, the won strengthened, and Korean treasury yields returned to a decline after an increase at the beginning of the month due to market expectations about major economies’ adjusting the pace of tightening. Housing prices decline is faster in September, and prices of Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments) also saw a faster decline.

Domestic demand has continued to improve gradually due to a recovery in employment and in-person service industries. However, with global inflationary pressure continuously rising, there are continued financial market volatility and economic downside risks due to major economies’ interest rate increases, the Russia-Ukraine war and China’s lockdown measures. Amid continued high inflation and deteriorating economic sentiment due to external factors, there are concerns of economic slowdown such as export slowdowns.