SEOUL, March 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment grew last month on the back of a fast increase in jobs for the elders, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of the employed people aged 15 or higher gained 329,000 from a year earlier to 28,043,000 in February, after expanding 380,000 in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea.
The overall job expansion was driven by the employment of the elderly people. The number of jobs for those aged 60 or older advanced 297,000 in February on a yearly basis, but the figures for those in their 20s and 40s shrank 29,000 and 62,000, respectively.
The number of jobs among manufacturers rose 38,000 last month, keeping an upward trend for the third successive month.
Employment in the health and social welfare services, the science and technology and the construction sectors went up 72,000, 78,000 and 36,000, respectively.
Jobs lost in the real estate and the education service sectors stood at 21,000 and 22,000, respectively, last month.
The numbers of regular and irregular employees climbed 357,000 and 207,000, respectively, but the reading for daily laborers declined 177,000 last month.
The number of the self-employed who hired workers increased 38,000, while the figure for the self-employed without employees decreased 60,000.
Employment rate for those aged 15 or older went up 0.5 percentage points over the year to 61.6 percent in February, while the OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 rose 0.7 percentage points to 68.7 percent.
The number of the unemployed people came in at 915,000 in February, up 25,000 compared with the same month of last year. Jobless rate added 0.1 percentage point to 3.2 percent.
The expanded jobless rate went down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier to 9.8 percent in February, while the corresponding rate for those aged 15-29 slumped 1.5 percentage points to 16.4 percent.
The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but failed to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts to seek a job actively.
The expanded jobless rate, called labor underutilization indicator, adds those who are discouraged from searching a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time, and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation, to the official unemployment rate.
The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, lost 183,000 people over the year to 16,568,000 in February.
The reading for discouraged job seekers picked up 54,000 to 412,000 last month.
The number of the take-a-rest group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, dipped 61,000 to 2,574,000 in the cited month.
The take-a-rest group is considered important as it can include those who are too discouraged to seek a job for an extended period. ■