The unemployment rate in October was unchanged at 4.0 percent from the previous month, while job availability improved for the first time in two months with corporate profits picking up on the back of the economic recovery, government data showed Friday.

The number of unemployed people rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent from September to 2.66 million, as those quitting jobs involuntarily increased 3.5 percent to 890,000, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said in a preliminary report.

But the number of people holding jobs gained 0.l percent to 63.27 million, preventing the jobless rate from worsening in October, a ministry official said.