Amid the prolonged economic slump, South Korea’s unemployment rate has shot to the highest level in more than seven years. 
 
According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of jobless people was one-point-35 million, the highest for the month of February since the statistics agency began compiling related data in 1999.
 
The number of people employed stood at 25-million-788-thousand last month, up by 371-thousand from a year earlier.
 
The unemployment rate increased by zero-point-one percentage point in a year to five percent, the highest since January 2010.
 
Driven by the continuing structural reforms of shipbuilding and shipping industries, the number of the employed in manufacturing sectors also continued to fall for an eighth consecutive month.