[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s jobless rate rose slightly in December due to seasonal factors, government data showed on Jan. 10.

The unemployment rate stood at 3.3 percent last month, up 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.

From a month earlier, it also climbed 0.1 percent.

The number of employed people reached 26.42 million last December, up 253,000 from a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month’s rise.

The unemployment rate for young people -- those aged between 15 and 29 -- was 9.9 percent for all of 2017, marking the worst figure since the government started compiling the annual data.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)