SEOUL - South Korea's jobless rate fell to 2.9 percent last month as the number of people employed grew sharply in the service industry, a government report showed Wednesday.

The unemployment rate stood at 2.9 percent in November, down 0.1 percentage point from the same month of last year, according to the Statistics Korea. The rate was unchanged from a month before.

The number of unemployed, who failed to land work despite job- hunting efforts, contracted to 730,000 last month from 737,000 a year earlier.

"Sharp growth in job creation, mainly driven by the service sector, led the number of unemployed to contract last month, dragging down the jobless rate," the statistical agency said.

Jobless rate among those aged between 15 and 29 came in at 6.8 percent in November, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous year. The rate was up 0.1 percentage point from the previous month.

The total number of working people reached 24.59 million in November, up 479,000 from a year earlier. The employment rate rose 0.6 percentage points on-year to 64.4 percent last month.

By industry, health and social welfare service sector, which drove up the November job growth, created 113,000 jobs last month, with wholesale and retail sector adding 109,000 positions. Science and technology service filed employed 67,000 workers last month, while construction industry hired 66,000 workers over the same period.

Meanwhile, the number of people employed as regular worker increased by 505,000 in November from a year earlier, but the number for temporary worker decreased 22,000 over the cited period. Those hired on a daily basis contracted by 133,000 last month from the previous year.