A job fair in Seoul crowded by people seeking to study or land a job in Japan. (image: Korea International Trade Association)
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — The employment rate of graduates of domestic colleges and graduate schools fell to 66.2 percent in 2017, a report by the Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute said Thursday.
Last year’s employment rate of the highly educated graduates was the lowest since the ministry and the state-run institute began to produce such a report in 2011, ministry officials said.
The latest report was compiled from a survey of health insurance and tax payment records of 574,009 people who graduated from junior colleges, universities and graduate schools nationwide between August 2016 and February 2017, they explained.
Of the total, 510,055 people, excluding those who advanced to graduate schools and overseas immigrants, looked for jobs and 66.2 percent of them were successful, the officials said, adding that the employment rate marked a drop of 1.5 percentage points from 67.7 percent in the previous year.
It is the first time since 2011 that the employment rate of the highly educated has fallen below 67 percent.
By school type, the employment rate of university graduates was 62.6 percent, compared with 69.8 percent for junior college graduates and 77.7 percent for graduate school graduates.
By gender, male graduates registered an employment rate of 67.8 percent, compared with 64.8 percent for women.
The average monthly income of all employed graduates who subscribe to state health insurance was 2.5 million won (US$2,232), with graduates of medical and engineering colleges drawing higher incomes.
The average monthly income for university graduates was 2.31 million won, compared with 4.42 million won for graduates of graduate schools.
By type of employer, 46.6 percent of all employed graduates worked for small and medium-sized companies, followed by 15.7 percent for nonprofit organizations, 11.2 percent for middle-standing enterprises and 9.8 percent for large companies.
(Yonhap)
