In May 2026, total industrial production decreased while retail sales increased.

 

Total industrial production fell (-0.3% m-o-m, +2.3% y-o-y) as a decline in industrial output (-3.0%, -0.9%) more than offset increases in services output (+1.3%, +4.9%) and construction output (+3.8%, -1.9%).

 

Facilities investment moved down (-0.1% m-o-m, +9.7% y-o-y) and retail sales moved up (+0.1%, +1.7%).

 

Exports in June 2026 climbed by 70.9 percent year-on-year, supported by expanded exports of semiconductor, computers, and ships. Average daily exports rose by 59.5 percent in June compared to the same month of last year.

 

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) in June went up by 0.5 points month-on-month to 106.6. The composite business sentiment index (CBSI) went down by 1.2 points to 97.7 and the CBSI outlook for July dropped by 2.4 points to 95.2.

 

The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index for May fell by 0.3 points and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index increased by 0.7 points.

 

In June, the number of employed persons returned to growth, while consumer price growth accelerated from the previous month.

 

The number of employed persons grew by 63,000 from a year earlier, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 2.8 percent.

 

The year-on-year consumer price index (CPI) climbed by 3.2 percent (3.1% in May → 3.2% in June), while the index excluding food and energy rose by 2.5 percent, the index excluding agricultural products and petroleum products rose by 2.4 percent, and the CPI for living necessities increased by 3.4 percent.

 

In June, stock prices remained flat, Korean Treasury Bond yields increased, and the Korean won weakened against the U.S. dollar.

 

In May, both housing prices (+0.21%, m-o-m) and Jeonse[1] prices (+0.35%, m-o-m) continued to climb.

 

The Korean economy has recently seen its recovery gain firmer footing, following a marked acceleration in growth in the first quarter. Exports continued to increase sharply and domestic demand, including consumption, improved after temporarily losing momentum due in part to the impact of the war in the Middle East.

 

However, cost-of-living pressures persist, including higher inflation and slower employment growth in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East.

 

Although the global economy continues to grow at a moderate pace, the impact of the Middle East conflict has pushed up inflation in major economies and raised concerns over slower growth, while uncertainty surrounding international financial markets and energy prices remains.

 

The government will make every effort to minimize the impact of the Middle East conflict by ensuring stable supplies of key goods and maintaining price stability. At the same time, it will swiftly implement the Economic Growth Strategy for the Second Half of 2026 to address structural challenges, including a post-conflict strategy for the Middle East, a rebound in potential growth, and measures to address economic polarization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key Statistics

Employment

	2025								2026
	Annual	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Number of employed  (million)	28.77	29.09	29.03	28.97	29.15	29.04	29.05	28.21	27.99	28.41	28.79	28.96	29.16	29.15
Employment rate  (%)	62.9	63.6	63.4	63.3	63.7	63.4	63.4	61.5	61.0	61.8	62.7	63.0	63.3	63.4
(Seasonally adjusted)	62.9	62.8	62.8	62.8	63.1	62.9	62.9	62.7	62.8	63.0	63.0	62.7	62.5	62.6

Consumer Price Index

                                                                                         (%)

 

Retail Sales

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1¹				Apr¹	May¹
												Jan	Feb	Mar
Retail sales	-1.9	-1.2	-0.7	0.4	-0.6	0.3	0.6	-0.6	1.2	0.6	2.4	2.8	-0.4	1.9	-3.5	0.1
(y-o-y)	-	-1.5	-3.0	-1.4	-1.8	-	-0.8	-0.1	1.6	0.9	3.2	0.5	4.2	5.0	1.6	1.7

1. Preliminary

Facility Investment Index

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1		Apr¹	May¹
												Mar
Facility investment index	3.0	-3.0	0.4	6.0	1.8	1.2	-2.2	0.3	0.6	-3.8	13.0	1.7	-3.7	-0.1
(y-o-y)	-	-1.5	-3.4	11.4	5.6	-	5.4	5.5	1.2	-6.2	9.8	9.8	7.9	9.7

1. Preliminary

  

Construction Completed

 (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1		Apr¹	May¹
												Mar
Construction Completed (Constant)	-4.6	4.5	-5.5	-4.6	-4.6	-16.5	-7.2	-2.6	-0.8	-4.1	0.5	-5.9	-1.4	3.8
(y-o-y)	-	4.1	-3.1	-9.9	-9.5	-	-21.1	-17.3	-11.9	-15.1	-6.1	-5.6	-5.3	-1.9

1. Preliminary

Exports and Imports

 (US$ billion, y-o-y, %)

	2024		2025					2026
	Annual	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Exports	683.61	175.15	709.33	159.53	175.13	184.89	189.78	65.84	67.65	87.32	85.83	87.82	102.25
(y-o-y, %)	8.1	4.2	3.8	-2.3	2.1	6.5	8.4	33.9	29.4	50.4	47.9	53.4	70.9
Average daily exports	2.53	2.56	2.64	2.49	2.63	2.59	2.85	2.80	3.56	3.80	3.58	4.28	4.54
Imports	631.77	159.92	631.90	152.84	154.40	162.49	162.16	57.10	51.88	60.44	62.09	60.79	66.10
(y-o-y, %)	-1.6	0.9	-0.0	-1.3	-1.8	1.5	1.4	11.6	7.3	13.3	16.6	20.7	30.1
Average daily imports	2.34	2.33	2.35	2.39	2.32	2.27	2.44	2.43	2.73	2.63	2.59	2.97	2.94

Industrial Production (Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production)

                (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

  1. Preliminary

  2. Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production

  3. End-point (month, quarter, and year)

  4. Average operation ratio for the month (or quarter)

  

Service Output

           (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

    1. Preliminary

Composite Indices of Coincident and Leading Indicators

                                                                                           (Points)

	2025						2026
	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr¹	May¹
Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index	99.6	99.8	99.8	99.4	99.2	99.0	99.0	99.6	100.0	100.2	99.9
m-o-m (points)	0.0	0.2	0.0	-0.4	-0.2	-0.2	0.0	0.6	0.4	0.2	-0.3
Cyclical indicator of leading composite index	100.5	100.9	100.9	100.9	101.1	101.6	102.2	102.8	103.5	104.1	104.8
m-o-m (points)	0.5	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.6	0.7

1. Preliminary

 

Please refer to the attached files.