South Korea's monthly job growth slowed to an eight-and-a-half year low in July. 

According to Statistics Korea on Friday, the number of employed people last month stood at 27-point-08 million, an increase of five thousand from a year earlier. 

The monthly job growth marked the lowest since January 2010, when it posted a decrease of ten-thousand. 

The figure, which hovered around 300-thousand last year, has remained below 200-thousand for six consecutive months. 

The country's overall employment rate dropped three tenths of a percentage point on-year to 61-point-three percent in July, while the jobless rate came to three-point-seven percent last month, up point-three percentage points. 

The number of jobless people came to one-point-04 million, up around 80-thousand from a year ago. The figure has remained above one million for seven straight months since January. 

The unemployment rate for young people, aged between 15 and 29, came to nine-point-three percent, unchanged from a year earlier.