7월 청년 취업자 45개월 연속 감소…실업률은 6.8%
Youth Employment Fell for a 45th Straight Month in July, With Unemployment at 6.8%
Part of the August 13, 2026 daily edition
국가데이터처가 8월 12일 발표한 ’2026년 7월 고용동향’에 따르면 청년층 취업자가 45개월 연속 줄었습니다. 15~29세 청년층 취업자는 344만 1000명으로 전년 동월보다 19만 1000명 감소했습니다. 청년 고용률도 44.2%로 전년 동월보다 1.6%포인트 낮아져 2024년 5월 이후 27개월 연속 하락했습니다. 청년층 실업자는 25만 1000명으로 전년 동월보다 4만 1000명 늘었고, 실업률은 6.8%로 1.3%포인트 상승했습니다. 청년 실업률은 7월 기준으로 2022년 7월 이후 가장 높았습니다.
Translation
According to the 'July 2026 Employment Trends' released by the National Data Office on August 12, the number of young people in work fell for a 45th consecutive month. Those aged 15 to 29 in work numbered 3.441 million, down 191,000 from the same month a year earlier. The youth employment rate also fell to 44.2 percent, 1.6 percentage points lower than the same month a year earlier, marking a 27th consecutive month of decline since May 2024. Unemployed young people numbered 251,000, up 41,000 from the same month a year earlier, and the unemployment rate rose 1.3 percentage points to 6.8 percent. Measured against other Julys, the youth unemployment rate was the highest since July 2022.
Vocabulary
- 고용동향명사 (noun)employment trends (the name of Korea's monthly jobs report)
- 청년층명사 (noun)the youth bracket — here defined as ages 15 to 29
- 취업자명사 (noun)a person in work (counted as employed in the survey)
- 고용률명사 (noun)employment rate — the share of the population in work
- 실업률명사 (noun)unemployment rate — the share of the labour force looking for work
- 전년 동월명사구 (noun phrase)the same month of the previous year
- 포인트명사 (noun)percentage point (a gap between two percentages, not a percent change)
- 연속명사 (noun)in a row, consecutive
Grammar points
N에 따르면according to N
Names where a piece of information came from, and is the standard opening move of a Korean statistics story. It commits the writer to nothing beyond faithful reporting, so the sentence it opens should end in a reporting form. Do not confuse it with 에 따라 ('in accordance with N'), which says something is governed by N rather than merely sourced from it.
Example: 조사 결과에 따르면 만족도가 높았습니다.
According to the survey results, satisfaction was high.
N보다 N 줄다to fall by N against N
Korean packs a baseline and a size of change into one clause: 전년 동월보다 19만 1000명 줄어 = 'down 191,000 from the same month a year earlier'. The noun before 보다 is the baseline and the figure right after it is the size of the movement — not the new total. Reading 19만 1000명 as the number of people in work, rather than the drop, is the classic mistake here.
Example: 방문객이 지난해보다 3만 명 늘었습니다.
Visitors rose by 30,000 from last year.
N 이후since N, after N
Anchors a run of time to its starting point: 2024년 5월 이후 27개월 연속 = '27 consecutive months since May 2024'. In records reporting it also marks how far back you have to go to find a comparable figure — 2022년 7월 이후 가장 높았다 means nothing since that July has been higher, which is a narrower claim than 'the highest ever'.
Example: 2020년 이후 처음으로 열리는 행사입니다.
It is the first event to be held since 2020.
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