Economic Bulletin | KDI 경제교육·정보센터

KDI 경제교육·정보센터

Economic Information and Education Center

발행물

Economic Trends

Current Economic Trends

In October 2025, retail sales increased, while industrial production, services production, facilitiesinvestment, and construction investment declined. In November 2025, employment saw a wideningincrease in the number of employed persons, and consumer price rose at the same pace as a yearearlier. In October, production in the industrial sector (down 4.0% m-o-m and down 8.1% y-o-y), constructionsector (down 20.9% m-o-m and down 24.6% y-o-y) and services sector (down 0.6% m-o-m and up 0.9%y-o-y) fell, leading to a decrease in total industrial sector (down 2.5% m-o-m and down 3.6% y-o-y). In October, the cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index went down by 0.4 points and thecyclical indicator of the leading composite index remained flat. In October, retail sales increased (up 3.5% m-o-m and up 0.3% y-o-y), while facilities investment decreased(down 14.1% m-o-m and down 4.3% y-o-y). In November, the Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) went up 2.6 points month-on-month to 112.4. TheComposite Business Sentiment Index (CBSI) increased by 1.5 points to 92.1 in November, and the CBSIoutlook for December remained unchanged at 91.1. In November, exports grew by 8.4 percent year-on-year, supported by strong semiconductor performance.Average daily exports rose by 13.3 percent compared to the same month of previous year. In November, the number of employed persons grew by 225,000 jobs compared to the same month lastyear and the unemployment rate stood at 2.2 percent, unchanged from a year earlier. In November, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed by 2.4 percent year-on-year, driven by agriculturalproducts and petroleum prices. The index when excluding food and energy prices grew by 2.0 percentfrom a year ago. In November, both housing prices (up 0.24% m-o-m) and Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthlypayments) prices also rose (0.14% m-o-m). In November, Korean equity prices went down, yields for Korean Treasury Bond rose, and the Korean Wonweakened against the dollar. Recently, the Korean economy has shown signs of recovery, moving out of weakness in the first halfof the year amid improving domestic demand, including consumption, and strong exports led bysemiconductors. The global economy continues to face volatility in global financial markets and concerns over slowingtrade and growth, due in part to a deteriorating trade environment following tariff measures by majoreconomies. With an aim to broaden growth momentum going forward, the government plans to step up efforts torevitalize domestic demand by thoroughly preparing advance procedures to ensure the swift execution ofthe 2026 budget from the beginning of next year, while making every effort to enhance growth potentialthrough initiatives such as the AI Transformation, Ultra-innovative Economy flagship projects, andProductive Finance. * For further details, please refer to the attached file.

Jan 2026