South Korea's jobless rate stood at a four-year high in February with local companies growing reluctant in recruitment amid the deepening recession, a government report said Wednesday.

The unemployment rate marked 3.9 percent in February, up from 3.6 percent a month earlier, according to the report by the National Statistical Office.

The February figure was the highest since March 2005 when the rate stood at 4.1 percent.

The total number of jobs reduced compared with a year earlier logged 142,000, marking the largest job reduction since September 2003, when 189,000 jobs were laid off, according to the government report.

In particular, the jobless rate among age 15 to 29 stood at a four-year high of 8.7 percent, showing that the nation's younger people were the hardest struck by the recession, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.

The number of people who received jobless benefits also rose to a monthly record-high of 400,000 in February.

The government spent around 310 billion won, or 218 million U.S. dollars, for jobless benefits in February, the Ministry of Labor said in a report.

As the job market is fast shrinking, job creation stands as one of the South Korean government's top priorities, the finance ministry said.

In January, the South Korean government launched the "green new deal," under which the government promised to invest about 50 trillion won, or 35.17 billion U.S. dollars, to create nearly one million jobs in eco-friendly sectors.

On Sunday, the government also said it will offer tax benefits not only to companies but also to employees joining in the "job sharing" project, under which firms cut the salaries of existing employees in a bid to boost recruitment.

Source: Xinhua