South Korea's job growth hit a 13-month high last month on the back of the government's job programs.

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of employed people stood at 26-point-34 million in February, up 263-thousand from a year earlier. 

The on-year job growth marks the largest since January of last year, when the nation added 334-thousand jobs. 
 
After adding merely 104-thousand new jobs in February of last year, job growth had been in a slump until January when the economy added 19-thousand jobs. 

The sharp gain is attributed to the government's job program, in which many senior citizens were hired by state-run companies in the areas of health, welfare and public administration. An increase of more than 100-thousand jobs in the agricultural and fishery industries also helped boost the job growth. 

The number of jobless people marked one-point-three million last month, up 38-thousand from a year earlier. 

South Korea’s employment rate increased point-two percentage point to 59-point-four percent.