A growing number of unmarried persons are starting their own businesses apparently due to a lack of jobs, a report suggested Monday, noting the jobless rate of young people has remained record high.

According to the report from Statistics Korea, 12.2 percent of all single men were self-employed as of end-2015.

The figure marked an increase of 4.8 percentage points from 7.4 percent at the end of 2006.

Accordingly, the average ratio of earned income in overall income for single male households dropped to 75 percent from 87.3 percent over the cited period.

The ratio of business income, on the other hand, spiked from 7.8 percent to 18.9 percent.

That of female households also more than doubled from 10.5 percent to 21.9 percent.

"The reason the earned income ratios of both men and women have been lowered appears to be related to a drop in youth employment," the report said.

In November, the jobless rate of people aged between 15 and 29 years came to 8.2 percent, the statistic office said earlier.

The tally marked only a 0.1 percentage point increase from the same month last year, but also the highest in 13 years for the month of November. (Yonhap)