S Korea's jobless rate falls to 3.7% in March

South Korea's jobless rate decelerated in March thanks mainly to a rise in jobs in the service sector, a government report showed Thursday. The report by Statistics Korea showed that the jobless rate stood at 3.7% last month, down from 4.2% in February, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency. A total of 419,000 jobs were added to payrolls in March with 24.26 million people employed in the country, the report showed. The employment rate edged up 0.3 percentage points to 58.6% , although the number of jobs created fell from 469,000 tallied a year earlier. The number was also down from 447,000 jobs created in February. Reflecting improvements, the seasonally adjusted employment rate dipped to 3.4% from the previous month's 3.7% , while the unemployment rate among young people between 15 and 29 stood at 8.3% , a drop of 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier. The economically active population came to 25.21 million, up 1.2% from the same month a year earlier, according to the report. The latest job data comes as Asia's fourth-largest economy is steadily making a comeback from sluggish growth posted in 2011 that was triggered by the eurozone fiscal debt crisis and soaring commodities prices. South Korea's economy expanded 3.6% last year, down sharply from 6.2% growth reported for 2010. South Korea posted a trade surplus of US$2.33 billion in March, buoyed by a steady rise in overseas demand for locally made cars and refined petroleum products. It was an increase from a $1.52 billion surplus tallied the previous month. Exports that play a key role in economic growth totaled $47.36 billion last month with imports reaching $45.03 billion. Industrial output was up a sharp 14.4% in February vis-a-vis the year before. South Korea's finance ministry, meanwhile, said last month's employment figures reflected gains in the general economy and predicted more jobs to be created in the civilian sector in April.