SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment rose for the eighth consecutive month due to an expansion in elderly jobs, statistical office data showed Wednesday.

The number of employed people aged 15 and older grew 166,000, or 0.6 percent, from a year earlier to 28,967,000 in August, according to Statistics Korea.

It kept an upward trend since January, but the August growth was slower than the increase of 171,000 in July.

The overall job growth was driven by the elderly. The number of jobs for those aged 60 and older expanded 401,000 in August on a yearly basis, and the figure for those in their 30s gained 96,000.

Employment among those aged 15-29 dived 219,000, while jobs for those in their 40s and 50s reduced 73,000 and 38,000 each.

Employment among manufacturers dwindled 61,000 in August compared to the same month of last year, keeping a downward trend for the 14th successive month.

Jobs lost in the construction industry reached 132,000, continuing to go down for the 16th straight month.

The number of jobs in the health and social welfare service, the education service and the real estate sectors picked up 304,000, 48,000 and 40,000 each.

The number of regular employees mounted 348,000, but the readings for irregular workers and daily laborers shrank 12,000 and 67,000 each last month.

The number of the self-employed who hired employees dipped 5,000, and the figure for the self-employed without workers diminished 65,000.

Employment rate for those aged 15 and older inched up 0.1 percentage point to 63.3 percent in August on a yearly basis, while the OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 added 0.1 percentage points to 69.9 percent.

The number of unemployed people was 592,000 in August, up 28,000 from a year earlier. Unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 2.0 percent.

The expanded jobless rate slipped 0.1 percentage point to 8.2 percent in the cited month, while the corresponding rate for those aged 15-29 advanced 0.6 percentage points to 15.3 percent.

The official unemployment rate gauges those who are immediately available for work but have 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 unemployment rate.

The economically inactive population, who had no willingness to seek a job and remained unemployed, grew 9,000 from a year earlier to 16,220,000 in August.

The reading for discouraged job seekers swelled 43,000 to 409,000 last month.

The number of the "take-a-rest" group, who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period, went up 73,000 to 2,641,000 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.