South Korea posted the highest October jobless rate in 13 years, indicating the worsened labor market conditions would last

for the time being, a government report showed yesterday.

Unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points over the year to 3.5 percent in October, according to Statistics Korea. It was higher than any October reading since 2005.

The number of those unemployed totaled 973,000 in October, up 79,000

from a year ago. It was the highest figure of the month since 1999 when the foreign exchange crisis rocked the economy.

The so-called expanded jobless rate, which reflects labor market conditions more accurately, stood at 11.1 percent in October, up 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier.