South Korea’s job growth slowed moderately following an increase for two consecutive months amid concerns over the impact of rapid inflation and policy countermeasures on the economy.

Statistics Korea said on Wednesday that the number of employed people came to stand at 28 million-478-thousand last month, up 841-thousand from a year earlier.

It marks the largest on-year increase for the month of June since 2000, when around 877-thousand jobs were added.

The nation also saw job increases for the 16th consecutive month, but the pace at which the number of jobs grew slowed for the first time since March, when 831-thousand jobs were added compared to a net job growth of over a million in January and February. The comparative figures for April and May were 865-thousand and 935-thousand, respectively.

Gong Mi-suk, a senior official at the statistics agency, said that although job growth continued thanks to the lifting of COVID-19 social distancing and quarantine measures, much uncertainty remains, hindering the future employment outlook.

The employment rate for those aged 15 and older rose by one-point-six percentage points on-year to reach 62-point-nine percent last month, setting a new record for the month of June.

The jobless rate dropped by zero-point-eight percentage points on-year to three percent, with the number of jobless people falling by 205-thousand from a year earlier to 888-thousand.