South Korea lost about 277,000 jobs in July, marking a decline in the number of employed in the country for a fifth consecutive month, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to strain economic activity.
It marked the longest fall since the eight months of decline posted in 2009 amid the global financial crisis.
Statistics Korea data released Wednesday showed the jobless rate rose by 0.1 percentage point on-year to 4 percent last month, with the number of employed falling to 27.1 million.
The unemployment rate was also the highest for any July since 2000.
Unemployment among young adults aged 15 to 29 reached 9.7 percent, down 0.1 percentage point on-year.
Temporary workers saw their numbers plunge by 395,000 over the period, while 44,000 jobs for day laborers were also shed.
The total number of unemployed people in the country reached 1.13 million in July, up 41,000 on-year, marking the highest rate since the 1.47 million posted in the same month in 1999.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
