South Korea's jobless rate hits 7-month high

South Korea's unemployment rate in January rose to a seven-month high as tens of thousands of college graduates flooded the job market, government data showed Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at 3.2 per cent last month, unchanged from a year ago and higher than 3.0 per cent in December, state-run Statistics Korea said. The January figure was the highest since June, when the figure stood at 3.2 per cent. The unadjusted jobless rate also rose to 3.4 per cent in January compared with 2.9 per cent for December. The number of those employed in the agricultural sector fell 1.4 per cent from a year ago to about 1 million, while those in construction slid 2.8 per cent to 1.6 million. The jobless rate among young people aged between 25 and 29 was 6.4 per cent, compared with 6.2 per cent the previous month. "The unemployment figure tends to go up in January as more people enter the job market ahead of college graduation (in February)," Statistics Korea said in a statement. The Bank of Korea in January slashed its economic growth forecasts for the country from 3.2 per cent to 2.8 per cent for 2013, while expecting 3.8 per cent growth for 2014.