SEOUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's jobless claims fell for a third straight month due to weak demand in the construction industry, government data showed Monday.

The number of new applicants for job-seeking benefits declined 2,800, or 2.7 percent, from a year earlier to 100,000 in April, keeping a downward trend since February, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

The number of benefit applicants shrank in the construction, the finance and insurance, the wholesale and retail and the public administration industries, while the number increased in the transport and warehousing, the health and social welfare, the education service and the manufacturing sectors.

The government offers job-seeking benefits to help the unemployed find work, accounting for the majority of unemployment benefits. It is financed by the state employment insurance fund.

The number of benefit recipients totaled 667,000 in April, down 4.9 percent from a year earlier.

The total payment of job-seeking benefits reduced 4.1 percent to 1.11 trillion won (753.4 million U.S. dollars) in the cited month.