South Korea's youth employment rose sharply in May from a year earlier despite the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Tuesday.

The number of employed young people aged 15-29 reached 4.1 million in May, up 196,000 from a year earlier, according to the data released by Statistics Korea.

Their employment rate came to 47.8 percent, up 3.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

Of the country's youth population of 8.59 million, 51.5 percent were economically active in May, up 2.5 percentage points from a year earlier. The number of young Koreans was down 2.3 percent, or 204,000, from a year earlier.

The youth jobless rate fell to 7.2 percent from 9.2 percent over the cited period, with the number of unemployed young people reaching 320,000, down 82,000 from a year earlier.

Some 17 percent of 4.17 economically inactive people, or 704,000, prepared for exams to land jobs in May, down 2.2 percentage points from a year earlier.

The data also showed young adults needing an average of 10.8 months to find their first jobs after graduation in May, slightly up from 10.1 months a year earlier.

About 37 percent of those hired earned between 1.5 million won ($1,139) and 2 million won per month in their first jobs, while 28.4 percent received between 2 million won and 3 million won. (Yonhap)