▲ Citizens look at employment information put up on a bulletin board at a state-run job center in Seoul, in this file photo from Feb. 16, 2022. (Yonhap)

jobless rate-February

Job growth extended for 12th month in Feb. amid economic recovery

By Kim Soo-yeon

SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea reported job additions for the 12th straight month in February as the job market has improved amid the economic recovery, data showed Wednesday.

The number of employed people came to 27.4 million last month, up 1.04 million from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The tally was lower than an on-year increase of 1.14 million in January, the largest in almost 22 years, but the number of employed people grew by more than 1 million for the second straight month.

The number of employed people has also increased every month since March last year.

The employment rate of people aged 15 and older rose 2 percentage points on-year to 60.6 percent last month. It marked the highest for any February since the statistics agency began compiling related data in July 1982.

The country's jobless rate fell 1.5 percentage points on-year to 3.4 percent last month.

The Bank of Korea said the South Korean economy could grow 3 percent this year after a 4 percent expansion last year, the fastest growth in 11 years.

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