Korea's unemployment rate hit a nine-year high in January, mainly due to a surge in jobseekers as college students, graduates and housewives started looking for jobs amid signs of an economic recovery.

According to a report by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the jobless rate stood at 5 percent in January, the highest since 5.1 percent in March 2001. This was a sharp rise over last year, when unemployment figures hovered at the 3 percent level. The number of jobless people was 1.216 million, the highest since February 2000 (1.223 million).

Statistic Korea said  the figure soared because people classified as "economically inactive," who are excluded from statistics, have now started looking for jobs. The number of economically active people, who include both the employed and jobseekers, increased as a result by 1.6 percent year-on-year after years of stagnation.

But the number of employed people also increased by about 5,000 over January 2009, putting an end to a downward trend that started in November. The economically inactive population, which rose 2 to 3 percent a month last year, by the same token increased only 0.9 percent in January.

Eun Soon-hyun, an official at Statistics Korea, said, "More people are seeking jobs as the government is working to boost jobs. It's usual in an economic recovery that both unemployment and employment figures rise."

Yet employment among those aged 15 and older stood at 56.6 percent in January, down for the third straight month, recording an all-time low since February 2001 (56.1 percent), despite the increase in the employed people. It is because the population increased faster than employment. The government decided to use the rate as a key index for economic policies from this year.

Lee Ho-sung of the Strategy and Finance Ministry said the employment rate will rally if more than 260,000 new jobs are created.