Korea’s employment rate continued to drop for the third straight month, hitting a one-year low of 57.4 percent in January, according to Statistics Korea.

Data released Wednesday showed that Korea’s employment rate is below the OECD-member average of 63 percent.

January’s job rate was unchanged from the same period a year ago, and the youth unemployment rate continues to show no signs of improvement.

The jobless rate for those aged between 15 and 29 reached 7.5 percent in January for the second month in a row, but dropped 0.5 percentage point on-year.

The rate for those in their mid to late 20s reached 6.4 percent last month, up 0.2 percentage point from December 2012.

Some 331,000 college graduates could not find a job in January, the most in seven months.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Ministry of Employment and Labor said that low youth employment may continue for the time being due to the economic slowdown and less hiring expected by companies this year.

They noted that only about 33,000 new jobs would be created by the top 500 Korean companies in 2013, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier, citing a December survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Only 37 percent of some 300 companies, surveyed by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business in December 2012, said they have recruitment plans in the first half of 2013. Last year, 68 percent said they planned to hire in the first half of 2012.

(hkp@heraldcorp.com)