SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment rose for the seventh consecutive month due to an expansion in elderly jobs, statistical office data showed Wednesday.

The number of employed people aged 15 and older grew 171,000, or 0.6 percent, from a year earlier to 29,029,000 in July, according to Statistics Korea.

It kept an upward trend since January, but the July growth was slower than an increase of 183,000 in June.

The overall job growth was driven by the elderly. The number of jobs for those aged 60 and older expanded 342,000 in July on a yearly basis, and the figure for those in their 30s gained 93,000.

Employment among those aged 15-29 dived 158,000, while jobs for those in their 40s and 50s reduced 56,000 and 49,000 each.

Employment among manufacturers diminished 78,000 in July compared to the same month of last year, keeping a downward trend for the 13th successive month.

The consecutive slide was attributed to the continued sluggishness in domestic demand and the negative effect of the U.S. tariffs imposition.

Jobs lost in the construction industry reached 92,000, continuing to go down for the 15th straight month amid the faltering housing market.

The number of jobs in the health and social welfare service, the science and technology service, and the finance and insurance sectors picked up 263,000, 91,000 and 38,000 each.

The number of regular and irregular employees mounted 319,000 and 16,000 each, but the reading for daily laborers decreased 48,000 last month.

The number of the self-employed who hired employees shrank 25,000, and the figure for the self-employed without workers dwindled 41,000.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and older added 0.1 percentage point to 63.4 percent in July on a yearly basis, while the OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 gained 0.4 percentage points to 70.2 percent.

The number of unemployed people was 726,000 in July, down 11,000 from a year ago. The unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 2.4 percent.

The expanded jobless rate stood unchanged at 8.6 percent in the cited month, while the corresponding rate for those aged 15-29 advanced 0.7 percentage points to 16.1 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 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 unemployment rate.

The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, rose 8,000 from a year earlier to 16,004,000 in July.

The reading for discouraged job seekers swelled 15,000 to 396,000 last month.

The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, went up 69,000 to 2,580,000 in the same month.

The take-a-rest group is considered important as it can include those who are too discouraged to seek a job for an extended period.