Anchor: South Korea's job growth posted over 200-thousand for the second straight month while the employment rate hit a record high for the month of March.
Our Park Jong-hong has this report.

Report: As of the end of March, the total number of employed people stood at 28-point-six million, up 250-thousand from a year earlier. 

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the job growth marks the second straight month of a quarter million, surpassing the government’s target of 150-thousand.

The on-year job growth marked 263-thousand in February after 12 months of slow gains. 

After adding just 104-thousand new jobs in February of last year, job growth was in a slump until January, when the economy added just 19-thousand jobs. 
 
The employment rate, or the proportion of employed working-age adults, reached 60-point-four percent in March, marking the highest ever figure for the month since the statistics agency started compiling related data in 1983.
 
Meanwhile, the number of jobless people came to one-point-two million last month, down four-point-eight percent from a year earlier, marking the first decline in nine months. 

The unemployment rate for young adults -- aged between 15 and 29 -- also fell point-eight percentage points on-year to ten-point-eight percent. 

Along with more openings in future industries such as information and communications technology, the improvement in the job market was due to the government's job program, in which many senior citizens were hired by state-run companies. 

In fact, the number of jobs added for those in their 60s was 346-thousand and for those in their 50s 111-thousand. 

However, 168-thousand people in their 40s lost jobs in March. Their employment rate fell point-six percentage points to 78 percent, continuing a 14-month streak of decline.

An official at Statistics Korea said one bright spot was that the rate of job decline in the manufacturing sector has been slowing down from January. 
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.