The number of workers aged 60 and older in the country has more than doubled over the past decade with the employment rate in the age group hitting a record high for the month of February.

According to Statistics Korea's Korean Statistical Information Service, the number of workers in the age group came to five-point-77 million in February, up 413-thousand from a year earlier.

It marks the largest for the month since 1996 when the country started compiling related data.

The figure, which stood at one-point-85 million in February 2003, soared to two-point-73 million in 2013 and more than doubled to over five-point-77 million in a decade.

The employment rate of the age group also hit a record 42-point-eight percent in February, up one-point-five percentage points from a year earlier.

The latest rate also marks the highest for the month since the nation started compiling related data.

The rise is attributed to an increase in older people as most baby boomers born between 1955 and 1963 have turned 60, with those people seeking jobs due to rising consumer prices.