South Korea reported the largest job growth in nearly 22 years in January as the job market improved to pre-pandemic levels due to a low base effect and the ongoing economic recovery, data showed Wednesday.

The number of employed people came to 26.95 million last month, up 1.14 million from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

It marked the largest job growth since March 2000, when the number of employed people increased 1.21 million on-year.

It also marked the 11th consecutive month of job additions since March last year.

The sharp job growth was attributable to the low base effect and the extended economic recovery supported by robust exports, according to the statistics agency.

In January last year, the number of employed people declined 982,000 from a year earlier, the largest job loss in 22 years, due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of employed people rose 369,000 on-year in 2021, the largest job growth in seven years, rebounding from a fall of 218,000 the previous year.

"The job market has evidently extended its recovery momentum in terms of both quantity and quality," Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki wrote on his Facebook account.

Asia's fourth-largest economy expanded 4 percent last year, the fastest growth in 11 years, on the back of robust exports.

The job recovery has continued even as the country is struggling to cope with the spike in COVID-19 cases amid the fast spread of the omicron variant.

The number of economically inactive people -- those who are neither working nor actively seeking jobs or people outside the labor force -- reached 17.1 million in January, down 476,000 from a year earlier. It marked the 11th straight month of an on-year fall.

The number of unemployed people declined 427,000 on-year to 1.14 million last month, marking the sharpest fall since August 2000.

The jobless rate fell 1.6 percentage points on-year to 4.1 percent last month.

Some in-person service segments are still suffering job strains due to the pandemic, indicating that the job recovery remains uneven across the sectors.

The number of employed people in the wholesale and retail sector fell 56,000 on-year in January, compared with a decline of 80,000 in December.

But the accommodation and food service sector reported job growth for the second straight month with an on-year gain of 128,000 jobs.

The manufacturing sector, a backbone of the country's economy, reported an on-year increase of 66,000 jobs.

All age groups saw the number of employed people increase, led by an on-year rise of 522,000 for those aged 60 and older. The group of people in their 30s reported the first job growth in 23 months in January.

The number of permanent workers grew 686,000 on-year in January and that of temporary workers rose 377,000. But that of day laborers fell 60,000 on-year, marking the ninth straight month of decline.

The government said it will closely monitor the impact of tough virus curbs on the job market as the highly transmissible omicron variant is raging across the nation.

South Korea reported a record high of 90,443 daily COVID-19 cases Wednesday, with the total caseload hitting 1,552,851.

In late January, the country relaxed some virus curbs by raising the limit on the size of private gatherings to six from the previous four. But it has extended a 9 p.m. curfew on restaurants and cafes, which has been in place since mid-December, until Feb. 20.

The finance ministry proposed another round of an extra budget of 14 trillion won ($11.7 billion) last month to support pandemic-hit merchants.

The Bank of Korea earlier forecast the number of employed people to increase 250,000 this year. The finance ministry puts the number of such people at 280,000 for 2022.

The country's central bank expects the South Korean economy to expand 3 percent this year after 4 percent growth last year. The government expects Asia's fourth-largest economy to grow 3.1 percent this year. (Yonhap)