In August 2026, total industrial production, retail sales and facility investment decreased.

 

Output increased in the construction (+1.9% m-o-m, +1.3% y-o-y) and service (+0.5%, +4.6%) sectors, but declined in the industrial sector (-4.8%, -2.2%). As a result, the total production declined by 1.3% month on month, while increasing by 1.9% year on year.

 

Retail sales fell (-1.8% m-o-m, -0.3% y-o-y), and facility investment moved down (-9.5%, +16.1%).

 

Exports in September 2026 grew by 83.5 percent year on year, supported by strong exports of semiconductors, computers, and cosmetics. Average daily exports rose by 104.9 percent in September compared to the same month of last year.

 

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) climbed by 2.1 points month on month to 106.6 in September. The composite business sentiment index (CBSI) went down by 0.5 points month on month to 99.1 in September and the CBSI outlook for October remained unchanged at 99.6.

 

The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index for August rose by 0.5 points and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index decreased by 0.1 points.

 

In September, growth in the number of employed persons slowed, while the month-on-month increase in consumer prices moderated.

 

The number of employed persons grew by 113,000 year on year, with the unemployment rate declining by 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier.

 

The consumer price index (CPI) climbed by 2.9 percent year on year (3.1% in August → 2.9% in September), with the index excluding food and energy rising by 2.8 percent, the index excluding agricultural products and petroleum products by 2.7 percent, and the CPI for living necessities by 2.5 percent.

 

In September, stock prices moved up, Korean Treasury Bond yields rose, and the Korean won strengthened against the U.S. dollar.

 

In August, both housing prices (+0.32% m-o-m) and Jeonse[1] prices (+0.35% m-o-m) continued to climb.

 

The Korean economy continues to show signs of a robust recovery, supported by strong export growth, solid investment growth, and a gradual improvement in consumption.

 

However, uncertainties stemming from the Middle East conflict have increased somewhat. Pressures on people’s livelihoods also persist due to rising inflationary pressures from high oil prices and challenging employment conditions for vulnerable groups.

 

The global economy continues to grow at a moderate pace, although uncertainties surrounding the Middle East conflict and U.S. tariff measures remain.

 

The government will make every effort to ensure stable supply and demand for key items to minimize the impact of the Middle East conflict, while strengthening policy efforts to stabilize people's livelihoods and reduce economic polarization so that the benefits of growth can spread throughout the economy.

Key Statistics

Employment

	2025					2026
	Annual	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
Number of employed  (million)	28.77	29.15	29.04	29.05	28.21	27.99	28.41	28.79	28.96	29.16	29.15	29.14	29.15	29.27
Employment rate  (%)	62.9	63.7	63.4	63.4	61.5	61.0	61.8	62.7	63.0	63.3	63.4	63.3	63.3	63.5
(Seasonally adjusted)	62.9	63.1	62.9	62.9	62.7	62.8	63.0	63.0	62.7	62.5	62.6	62.7	62.7	62.9

Consumer Price Index

                                                                                         (%)

 

Retail Sales

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2
													Jun	Jul¹	Aug¹
Retail sales	-1.9	-1.2	-0.7	0.4	-0.6	0.3	0.6	-0.6	1.2	0.6	2.4	-1.8	2.7	-2.6	-1.8
(y-o-y)	-	-1.5	-3.0	-1.4	-1.8	-	-0.8	-0.1	1.6	0.9	3.2	2.3	4.0	-1.0	-0.3

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	Q2
													Jun	Jul¹	Aug¹
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	3.4	6.2	8.0	-9.5
(y-o-y)	-	-1.5	-3.4	11.4	5.6	-	5.4	5.5	1.2	-6.2	9.8	12.8	21.6	24.6	16.1

1. Preliminary

  

Construction Completed

 (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2
													Jun	Jul¹	Aug¹
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	0.1	4.1	-1.0	1.9
(y-o-y)	-	4.1	-3.1	-9.9	-9.5	-	-21.1	-17.3	-11.9	-15.1	-6.1	-4.9	-4.4	-3.4	1.3

1. Preliminary

Exports and Imports

 (US$ billion, y-o-y, %)

	2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
Exports	709.33	159.53	175.13	184.89	189.78	65.84	67.64	87.36	85.75	87.55	101.96	99.19	98.28	129.04
(y-o-y, %)	3.8	-2.3	2.1	6.5	8.4	33.9	29.4	50.5	47.8	52.9	70.4	63.3	68.7	83.5
Average daily exports	2.64	2.49	2.63	2.59	2.85	2.80	3.56	3.80	3.57	4.27	4.53	4.13	4.47	5.63
Imports	631.90	152.84	154.40	162.49	162.16	57.15	52.11	60.75	62.11	60.75	66.05	68.54	63.50	71.09
(y-o-y, %)	-0.0	-1.3	-1.8	1.5	1.4	11.7	7.8	13.9	16.7	20.7	30.0	26.4	22.4	26.0
Average daily imports	2.35	2.39	2.32	2.27	2.44	2.43	2.74	2.64	2.59	2.96	2.94	2.86	2.89	3.31

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
	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun¹	Jul¹	Aug¹
Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index	99.5	99.3	99.1	99.1	99.7	100.1	100.3	99.9	100.4	101.2	101.7
m-o-m (points)	-0.4	-0.2	-0.2	0.0	0.6	0.4	0.2	-0.4	0.5	0.8	0.5
Cyclical indicator of leading composite index	99.6	99.8	100.2	100.7	101.2	101.8	102.3	102.9	103.8	104.3	104.2
m-o-m (points)	-0.1	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.9	0.5	-0.1

1. Preliminary

 

Please refer to the attached files.