South Korea unemployment rate soars to 21-year high

SEOUL (Reuters) -- South Korea's unemployment rate soared to a 21-year high in January, while the number of people employed fell at the sharpest pace in more than two decades, as curbs to contain the coronavirus continue to hurt the job market.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to 5.4% in January, the highest since 1999, data from the Statistics Korea showed.