S. Korea's jobless rate rises to 3.4 pct in January (2)

Job creation accelerated due to solid performance in the manufacturing industry. The total number of people employed rose 322,000 from a year earlier to 24,054,000 in January. The gain was up from 277,000 jobs created in the previous month.

By industry, the manufacturing sector created 156,000 jobs last month, with the health and social welfare service industry employing 105,000 workers. Those figures were up 3.9 percent and 8. 1 percent each from a year earlier. The wholesale & retail industry reduced 55,000 jobs in January, and the construction sector cut 48,000 workers.

The hiring rate, which gauges the percentage of working people to the working age population, or those aged 15 and over, came in at 57.4 percent in January after posting 58.3 percent in the previous month. The employment rate is an alternative measure to the jobless rate for assessing labor market conditions.

The number of people employed as a regular worker increased 523, 000 in January compared with the prior year, while workers hired on a daily basis and irregular workers reduced by 77,000 and 49, 000 respectively. The number of self-employed decreased 21,000 last month.

The number of those working less than 36 hours a week reached 3, 371,000 in January, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier. Among them, involuntary part-time workers came to 318,000, up 0.1 percent over the same period.