South Korea lost jobs for the third consecutive month in May amid the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of employed people reached 26-point-93 million in May, down 392-thousand from a year earlier. 

Jobs have dropped for three straight months since March. It is the first such occurrence since it posted job losses for four straight months from October 2009 to January 2010 during the global financial crisis.

The employment rate for those aged 15 or older slipped by one-point-three percentage points on-year to 60-point-two percent last month.  

The economically active population plunged by 259-thousand on-year to 28-point-two million. The economically inactive population, or people who are capable of working but choose not to seek jobs, came to 16-point-five million, up 555-thousand on-year. 

The country's jobless rate rose by point-five percentage points to four-and-a-half percent to post the highest for any May since the country started compiling related data in 1999.