South Korea jobless rate climbed to near two-year high in December

A man looks at a document during a job fair in Seoul, South Korea, April 12, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL  – South Korea’s jobless rate rose to a near two-year high in December, official data showed on Wednesday.

The country’s unemployment rate stood at 3.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, higher than 2.8 percent in November and the highest since January 2022, according to Statistics Korea.

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For the year 2023, South Korea’s annual unemployment rate stood at 2.7 percent, falling for the third straight year and marking the lowest since the data release started in 2000.