SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment growth continued to slow for the fifth consecutive month in October amid rising economic uncertainty such as interest rate hikes, statistical office data showed Wednesday.

The number of those employed totaled 28,418,000 in October, up 677,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.

Jobs kept expanding for 20 months since March last year, but the year-over-year job increase slowed from 935,000 in May to 841,000 in June, 826,000 in July, 807,000 in August and 707,000 in September respectively.

Uncertainty mounted over the economy amid the higher interest rates that raised worry about the economic downturn.

The country's central bank began to tighten its monetary policy stance since August last year, raising its policy rate in eight steps from a record low of 0.5 percent to 3.0 percent.

The number of jobs among manufacturers gained 201,000 in October from a year earlier, keeping an upward trend for the 12th successive month.

Employment in the health and social welfare services industry increased 121,000 last month, and the reading in the lodging and eatery sector climbed 153,000 on the back of the eased measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of jobs lost in the wholesale and retail and the finance and insurance segments came in at 60,000 and 15,000 each.

The overall job growth was led by the elderly people. The number of jobs among those aged 60 or higher jumped 460,000 in October from a year earlier, while those in their 50s and 30s grew 147,000 and 61,000 respectively.

The number of regular employees soared 738,000, but the readings for irregular workers and daily laborers dwindled 85,000 and 80,000 each last month.

The number of the self-employed who hired workers picked up 67,000, and the figure for the self-employed without employees gained 99,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 or higher rose 1.3 percentage points over the year to 62.7 percent last month, posting the highest October figure since relevant data began to be compiled in 1982.

The OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 went up 1.6 percentage points to 68.9 percent.

The number of those unemployed stood at 692,000 in October, down 95,000 from a year earlier. The jobless rate slipped 0.4 percentage points to 2.4 percent.

The expanded jobless rate retreated 2.2 percentage points to 9.5 percent last month, and the rate for those aged 15-29 declined 2.8 percentage points to 17.5 percent.

The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but failed to get a job for the past four weeks despite efforts to seek a job actively.

The expanded jobless rate, called the labor underutilization indicator, adds those who are discouraged from searching for a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time, and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation, to the official jobless rate.

The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, went down 428,000 from a year earlier to 16,192,000 in October. It kept a downward trend for 20 months in a row.

The reading for discouraged job seekers diminished 160,000 to 414,000 in the cited month.

The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, shrank 97,000 to 2,232,000 last month.