S. Korea's jobless rate hits over 7-year high in Feb

SEJONG, March 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's jobless rate rose to an over seven-year high in February amid an increased youth unemployment rate, government data showed Wednesday. The unemployment rate in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 5 percent last month, edging up 0.1 percentage point from the same month last year, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, the rate also jumped 1.2 percentage points from 3.8 percent. The number of employed people stood at 25.78 million in February, up 371,000 from a year earlier, the largest on-year gain in six months. The unemployment rate for young people, aged between 15 and 29, reached 12.3 percent last month, down slightly from a record 12.5 percent tallied a year earlier but up sharply from January's 8.6 percent. brk@yna.co.kr (END)