SEOUL - South Korea's jobless rate stayed unchanged at 3 percent in September from a month earlier, but job growth slowed down due to a one-off factor, a government report showed Wednesday.

The unemployment rate stood at 3 percent in August, unchanged from a month before, the Statistics Korea said in a monthly report. The rate was down from 3.4 percent tallied in the same month of last year.

The number of unemployed, who failed to land work despite job- hunting efforts, decreased 100,000 on-year to 758,000 last month, keeping its recent downward trend, according to the report.

The jobless rate among those aged between 15 and 29 came in at 6.3 percent in September, unchanged from a month before. The rate was lower than 7.2 percent recorded in the same month of last year.

The total number of working people reached 24.32 million in September, up 264,000 from a year earlier. The on-year job growth was lower than 490,000 created in August, and the figure fell below 300,000 for the first time in 12 months.

The slowed job growth was mainly attributed to a one-off factor of Chuseok holiday when the survey for the job creation was conducted, the statistical office said.

The employment rate was unchanged at 59.1 percent compared with the previous year, but it was also down from 59.6 percent tallied in August.

The health and social welfare sector, which drove the September job growth, created 120,000 new jobs last month, with the science and technology service field adding 90,000 positions. The wholesale and retail sector employed 88,000 workers, while the transportation area hired 67,000 workers over the cited period.

In contrast, the agricultural, forestry and fishery sectors shed 59,000 jobs last month, with the construction sector eliminating 50,000 positions.

Meanwhile, the number of people employed as regular worker increased 547,000 in September, but numbers for temporary workers and those hired on a daily basis declined by 60,000 and 213,000 respectively. The number of self-employed grew by 88,000 last month.