Seoul, Feb 8 (IANS): South Korea's initial jobless claims grew in double digits last month owing to the continued negative impact from the Covid-19 resurgence, a government report revealed on Monday.

The number of those who newly applied for job-seeking benefits was 212,000 in January, up 21.8 per cent from the same month of last year, according to the report by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

The number almost doubled the 108,000 tallied in the previous month, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the report, domestic companies have encouraged employees to go on an unpaid leave or be laid off amid the lingering worry about the pandemic.

The job-seeking benefits are offered by the government to help the unemployed seek jobs, taking up a majority of unemployment benefits.

It is financed by the state employment insurance fund.

The number of job-seeking benefit receivers totaled 669,000 in January, up 34.1 per cent from a year earlier.

The total payment of job-seeking benefits amounted to 960.2 billion won ($857 million) in January, up from 733.6 billion won ($655 million) a year ago.

Record-level benefits payment has continued amid an increased benefits payment and a higher number of jobless claims.