South Korea's employment-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio fell to a record low last year.

The ratio measures the number of newly employed workers per one billion won of GDP, a gauge of people finding work in proportion to economic growth.

According to data from the Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea on Sunday, the nation's ratio marked 16-point-79 in 2018, down to a fresh record low from 17-point-18 of the previous year.

Last year's figure marks the steepest drop in eight years.

The ratio, which was 43 in 1990, fell to 29-point-six in 1997 and slipped below 20 in 2009. It has not rebounded above the 20 mark.