In December 2025, South Korea experienced a notable rise in its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, which escalated to 4%. This marked the third consecutive month of increase, reaching its highest point in nearly five years. The number of individuals unemployed increased to 1.22 million, reflecting a year-on-year rise of 103,000, or 9.2%. Despite this challenging labor market environment, the economy saw an addition of 168,000 jobs, representing a 0.6% increase from the previous year, bringing the total number of employed individuals to 28.2 million. However, this figure saw a significant decrease from the 29.71 million recorded in November, underscoring the recent weakening of the labor market. The labor force participation rate was 64.1%, showing a 0.2% increase compared to the previous year, yet it was lower than the 64.8% seen in the previous month, indicating a decline in workforce engagement toward the end of the year.