Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Korea
Korea: Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment was 22,318 Persons in 2025. ▲ Rising
Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Korea, 1989–2025
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Persons.
Analysis
The most recent figure for number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Korea is 22,318 Persons, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 37 years on record.
That represents a change of up 1.2% on the previous year and up 15.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Korea peaked at 22,318 Persons in 2025 and was at its lowest, 10,390 Persons, in 1989.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 37 years of available data.
Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Korea, year by year
| Year | Persons | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 10,390 Persons | — |
| 1990 | 10,950 Persons | +5.4% |
| 1991 | 11,699 Persons | +6.8% |
| 1992 | 11,910 Persons | +1.8% |
| 1993 | 11,944 Persons | +0.3% |
| 1994 | 12,479 Persons | +4.5% |
| 1995 | 12,899 Persons | +3.4% |
| 1996 | 13,200 Persons | +2.3% |
| 1997 | 13,404 Persons | +1.5% |
| 1998 | 12,296 Persons | -8.3% |
| 1999 | 12,663 Persons | +3.0% |
| 2000 | 13,356 Persons | +5.5% |
| 2001 | 13,659 Persons | +2.3% |
| 2002 | 14,206 Persons | +4.0% |
| 2003 | 14,449 Persons | +1.7% |
| 2004 | 14,936 Persons | +3.4% |
| 2005 | 15,186 Persons | +1.7% |
| 2006 | 15,608 Persons | +2.8% |
| 2007 | 16,094 Persons | +3.1% |
| 2008 | 16,357 Persons | +1.6% |
| 2009 | 16,586 Persons | +1.4% |
| 2010 | 17,111 Persons | +3.2% |
| 2011 | 17,596 Persons | +2.8% |
| 2012 | 17,921 Persons | +1.8% |
| 2013 | 18,365 Persons | +2.5% |
| 2014 | 18,958 Persons | +3.2% |
| 2015 | 19,402 Persons | +2.3% |
| 2016 | 19,669 Persons | +1.4% |
| 2017 | 19,934 Persons | +1.3% |
| 2018 | 20,084 Persons | +0.8% |
| 2019 | 20,440 Persons | +1.8% |
| 2020 | 20,332 Persons | -0.5% |
| 2021 | 20,753 Persons | +2.1% |
| 2022 | 21,502 Persons | +3.6% |
| 2023 | 21,828 Persons | +1.5% |
| 2024 | 22,043 Persons | +1.0% |
| 2025 | 22,318 Persons | +1.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 10,390 Persons | 10,390 Persons | 10,390 Persons | 1 |
| 1990s | 12,344 Persons | 10,950 Persons | 13,404 Persons | 10 |
| 2000s | 15,044 Persons | 13,356 Persons | 16,586 Persons | 10 |
| 2010s | 18,948 Persons | 17,111 Persons | 20,440 Persons | 10 |
| 2020s | 21,463 Persons | 20,332 Persons | 22,318 Persons | 6 |
Countries ranked near Korea
- 1 United States of America 151,352 Persons compare
- 1 Türkiye 23,366 Persons compare
- 2 Poland 13,946 Persons compare
- 2 Brazil 71,469 Persons compare
- 3 Netherlands 8,290 Persons compare
- 3 Russian Federation 65,833 Persons compare
- 3 Croatia 1,478 Persons compare
- 4 Japan 61,850 Persons compare
- 4 Lithuania 1,294 Persons compare
More work & labour data for Korea
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 32 - Employment by 1,235 Persons (2022)
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 32 - Employment by 2,220 Persons (2022)
- Patents - international collaboration in technology development 41,123 Co-inventions (2023)
- Employment and unemployment by five-year age group and sex - levels 28,769 Persons (2025)
- Unemployed population — Unemployment 830.02 Persons (2025)
- Average annual hours actually worked per worker — Hours worked 1,833 Hours per year per person (2025)
- Employment by professional status 28,769 Persons (2025)
- Incidence of unemployment by duration 58.51 Percentage of population in the same subgroup (2025)
- Annual population and employment, national concept — Total employment 28,576 Persons (2024)
- Monthly unemployment levels 830.02 Persons (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Korea?
- Number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Korea was 22,318 Persons in 2025, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment recorded in Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 22,318 Persons in 2025.
- What is the lowest number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment recorded in Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 10,390 Persons in 1989.
- How does Korea rank for number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment?
- Korea ranks 1st out of 3 groups with data for 2025.
- Is number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment rising or falling in Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 15.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Korea data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
The dataflow "Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4)" is a subset of the “Employment by activites and status (ALFS)” dataset which presents annual labour force statistics for OECD member countries, Brazil and 4 geographical areas (Major Seven, Euro zone, European Union and OECD-Total). This dataflow shows the number of employees broken down by economic activities (ISIC Rev. 4). Economic activities are defined according to the Major divisions of the International standard International Classification (ISIC) Rev. 4 with the exception of the United-States wich compiled since 2003, employment data by sector following the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS); NAICS sector are then proxied to ISIC Rev. 4 and are therefore not strictly comparable with other countries’ data. The professional status is defined in the International Classification by status in Employment (ICSE-1993). Data are presented in thousands of persons, or as indices with base year 2015=100. Annual data in this dataset are typically calculated as averages of infra-annual estimates. This can lead to differences with annual data published by National Statistics Institutes. Historical data of employment statistics defined according to ISIC Rev. 2 are also available from 1970 to 2014 Historical data of employment statistics defined according to ISIC Rev. 3 are available from 1983 to 2023. Data for Canada are currently only available in ISIC Rev. 3