South Korea's jobless rate dropped slightly in July from a year earlier, with the unemployment rate for young adults also declining, a government report showed Wednesday. 
The unemployment rate in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 3.5% last month, compared with 3.6% tallied in June, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea, cited by Yonhap news agency. 
The number of employed people stood at 26.6 million in July, up 298,000 from a year earlier, with the monthly gain contracting from the previous month's 354,000. 
The unemployment rate for young people, aged between 15 and 29, reached 9.2% last month, also down from June's 10.3%. 
The statistics agency said the sluggish manufacturing sector weighed on the monthly job creation as the country's exports posted negative growth for 19 months in a row. 
The manufacturing industry hired 4.46 million people in July, down 65,000, or 1.4 percent, from a year earlier, marking the first on-year decline since June 2012. 
Total output by five local carmakers slumped 10.8% on-year in July due to contracted demand at home and abroad and a partial strike, with domestic car sales backtracking 10.5% last month. 
Moreover, the on-going tough restructuring efforts in the shipbuilding and other shaky sectors started to have an impact on the local job market, the agency noted.