Hiring by manufacturers up slightly despite strong sales

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- Employment by South Korea's manufacturing and mining
sector grew in 2007 at their slowest pace in six years though sales climbed
nearly 10 percent, a government report showed Sunday.
A average of 2.89 million workers per month were employed by the nation's
manufacturing and mining companies last year, a mere 1.1 percent increase from a
year earlier, according to the report by the National Statistical Office.
In comparison, their combined sales surged 9.9 percent on-year to 991.8 trillion
won, with shipments by the manufacturing industry accounting for 988.8 trillion
won, it said.
The slow increase in employment was attributed mainly to the restructuring of
shoe, textile and other labor-intensive industries and their movement of plants
to foreign countries.
Also responsible was increased facility automation by manufacturing companies,
the report said.
The report comes as South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, remains plagued
by stagnant job creation.
The South Korean economy generated 159,000 new jobs in August, far short of the
government's target of creating 200,000 more jobs. The nation's jobless rate
stood at 3.1 percent for August, unchanged from July.