The number of unemployed South Koreans surpassed one million last year for the first time since 2000. The jobless rate for young people aged between 15 to 29 reached a new high.

According to job data released on Wednesday by Statistics Korea, the average number of unemployed people among job seekers stood at one-million-12-thousand last year. That's up by 36-thousand from a year earlier.

The unemployment rate for 2016 was three-point-seven percent, up zero-point-one percentage point. It ties with a level last seen in 2010.

The youth unemployment rate was tallied at nine-point-eight percent last year, renewing the previous record of nine-point-two percent set in 2015.

The number of people with jobs rose by 299-thousand from 2015 to 26-point-235 million. The employment rate edged up by zero-point-one percentage point in a year to 60-point-four percent.

For the month of December, the unemployment rate stood at three-point-two percent, staying unchanged from a year earlier.