Korea’s largest tobacco producer KT&G pledged to continue its job training programs to help young job seekers here, as the country suffers from a record-breaking rate of youth unemployment, the company said Wednesday.

As of June this year, the youth unemployment rate reached 10.5 percent, marking the highest level since 1999, when the nation was struggling to recover from the Asian financial crisis. 

The company annually runs a four-day career camp that selects some 100 college students and provides around 100 hours of personalized job consulting services. The company has held the camp since August 2014, and a total of some 6,800 students have applied for the program so far.

KT&G’s most popular job support program is a service that lends formal dresses to job seeking youths for their interviews without charging any fees. Starting in 2015, the company’s executives and staff have been gathering funds to prepare the suits at local universities. KT&G has provided suits for nine universities and plans to expand the number, it said.

The high rate of youth unemployment has raised awareness about the need to develop job training programs for young people trying to find jobs, the company said.

“KT&G will continue offering various job training programs to support young job seekers to find jobs and to ease their financial burden,” KT&G’s spokesperson said.