The number of manufacturing jobs in South Korea surged to a 17-year high in February, fueled by industrial restructuring and aggressive job seeking by baby boomers, government data showed Monday.

According to the latest figures by Statistics Korea, slightly over 4.43 million people were hired by manufacturing companies as of February this year, up 3.7 percent, or 159,000, from a year earlier.

It is the highest since the 4.47 million jobs reported in December 1997. February marked the 32nd consecutive month that the figure had risen on-year.

The number of manufacturing jobs stood at 2 million in 1975, rose to 4 million in 1987 and peaked at 5.16 million in 1991, before falling to 3.92 million in 1998 as the country reeled from the Asian financial crisis.

The figure rose subsequently only to decline again in 2008-2009 amid the global economic turmoil triggered by the Lehman Brothers debacle.

The latest increase is seen as puzzling since it comes at a time when growth has been sluggish for Asia's fourth-largest economy, with some observers citing that the rise in jobs is taking place without a meaningful economic expansion.

In 2012, industrial output moved up 1.4 percent, then dipped to 0.7 percent in the following year and hovered at just 0.1 percent in 2014. During the same period, South Korea's national economy expanded a modest 2.3 percent, 3 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Park Yoon-soo, a researcher at the state-run Korea Development Institute, said supply seems to be pushing up numbers as baby boomers born between 1955 and 1963 have sought jobs after early retirement or switched jobs in their later years.

This may be linked with more people working shorter hours, and an overall move by the country to bring down working hours, he added.

Others said that the increase may be connected to South Korean companies that have returned home after trying to set up operations abroad.

Some speculated that a steady rise in foreign migrant workers have also played a part. There were some 418,000 foreigners in the manufacturing sector in 2014, up from 368,000 in 2012.

"There is a chance that the successful completion of structural reforms in manufacturing may be fueling demand for workers to fill vacant posts," said Lee Si-kyoon, a research fellow at the Korea Employment Information Service.

He said that judging by recent data, there is a chance that employment numbers may continue to rise for the near future. (Yonhap)