S. Korea's jobless rate drops to 4.3 % in March

South Korea's jobless rate dropped sharply in March on a rise in the number of employees in the manufacturing sector, a government report showed Friday.

The Yonhap news agency has quoted this official report which says that the unemployment rate stood at 4.3 percent in March, compared with 4.9 percent tallied in February. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate also dropped to 3.8 percent from 4.1 percent over the cited period.

Job creation edged up from the previous month. The number of employed people stood at 25.8 million in March, up 300,000 from a year earlier. It is higher than the previous month's 223,000 gain, which was the lowest on-year job growth in 12 months.

The unemployment rate for young people, aged between 15 and 29, reached 11.8 percent last month, down from a record high of 12.5 percent in February.

Source:WAM