South Korea's jobless rate rose slightly in December due to seasonal factors, government data showed Wednesday.

The unemployment rate stood at 3.3 percent last month, up 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.

From a month earlier, it also climbed 0.1 percent.

The number of employed people reached 26.42 million last December, up 253,000 from a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month's rise. 

The unemployment rate for young people -- those aged between 15 and 29 -- was 9.9 percent for all of 2017, marking the worst figure since the government started compiling the annual data.

The employment rate fell 1 percentage point to 60.2 percent last month from a year earlier, with the corresponding figure for young people declining 0.3 percentage point to 42 percent.

The manufacturing sector, the backbone industry that shoulders a fifth of employment in Asia's fourth-largest economy, had 4.52 million workers on its payroll last month, up 88,000 from a year earlier.

More than 2 million workers were employed by local builders last month, up 80,000 from a year earlier, while retailers and wholesalers eliminated 2,000 jobs in December.  (Yonhap)