The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 4.4 percent in February, the worst level in more than three years as companies increasingly reduced payrolls in response to the economic downturn, the government said Tuesday.

The number of people out of work grew by 330,000 from a year earlier to 2.99 million, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said in a preliminary report.

The jobless rate was up 0.3 percentage point from January, the fourth consecutive monthly rise and the highest level since January 2006.