The number of jobs increased by more than 300-thousand for the first time in three months in June, but the youth unemployment rate headed upward for a sixth consecutive month from a year earlier.

According to Statistics Korea's June job figures released Wednesday, the number of employed people stood at around 26-point-56 million last month, up 354-thousand on-year.

The employment rate inched up zero-point-three percentage points on-year to reach 61-point-two percent.

The statistics agency credited the job growth to the recovery of the food and lodging industries after the Middle East Respiratory Syndrom(MERS)-induced slump last year.

The unemployment rate of those aged 15 to 29, however, rose by 18-thousand from June last year, lifting the youth unemployment rate by zero-point-one percentage point to 10-point-three percent.

It is the country's highest youth unemployment since posting eleven-point-three percent in June 1999.