North Korean defectors’ jobless rate rose in 2013 from a year earlier, government data showed, in the latest sign that underscores the challenges defectors face in finding jobs in South Korea.

The jobless rate of North Korean defectors stood at 9.7 percent in 2013, up from 7.5 percent a year earlier, according to a poll released by the North Korean Refugees Foundation, which is controlled by the Unification Ministry.

In comparison, the jobless rate of South Koreans stood at 2.7 percent in September 2013, according to Statistics Korea.

The latest data shows that North Koreans are struggling to find decent jobs in the highly competitive South Korean society, though they receive three months of mandatory resettlement training upon arriving in the South.

More than 26,000 North Korean defectors have settled in South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and a stream of North Koreans continue to defect to the South to avoid chronic food shortages and harsh political oppression.

The poll showed that 41.8 percent of 2,355 adult North Korean defectors said their monthly income ranged between 1.01 million ($940) and 1.5 million won.

It also found that 74.5 percent are satisfied with their lives in South Korea because they get paid for their work and can do what they want to do.

The foundation said it questioned 2,355 North Korean defectors between August and September 2013, and the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. (Yonhap)