South Korea's unemployment rate grew by the biggest margin in August among member states of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, due chiefly to youth joblessness, the latest data showed Monday.

The figures released by the OECD put South Korea's unemployment rate for August at 3.8 percent, up 0.2 percentage point from the previous month. While it was the first increase since June, the rate of increase was the highest, along with Austria, among the 25 OECD members checked.

Numbers fell for 10 countries but rose for four. The average unemployment for the member states was 5.8 percent, the same as for May.

Young people -- those aged 15-24 -- contributed heavily to the increase for South Korea. The youth unemployment rate for August was 10.7 percent, up 1.3 percentage points, making it the second highest after Portugal's 1.6 percentage point gain, and the biggest since February's 2.1 percentage point jump.

Across all OECD member states, the jobless rate for young people was the same as for the previous three months, at 11.9 percent.

The latest findings showed unemployment among South Korean males standing at 3.9 percent, up 0.3 percentage point, marking the highest gain among OECD countries in the one month period. For females, the rate rose 0.1 percentage point. Overall, however, unemployment was higher for women, standing at 5.9 percent compared to 5.6 percent for men. (Yonhap)