2025 Seoul Youth Employment Mentoring Festa. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 25 (Korea Bizwire) — More than half of recent South Korean college graduates view the private sector’s growing preference for experienced hires as a major obstacle to entering the job market, according to a new report by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).
In its analysis of 144,181 job postings listed in the first half of 2025 on major employment platforms, KCCI found that a staggering 82% were for experienced workers only, while just 2.6% of postings were for entry-level candidates. Another 15.4% were open to either.
This hiring trend has created a widening gap for young job seekers. In a separate KCCI survey of 1,000 college-educated youth, 53.9% cited “experience-based hiring” as a key barrier to securing employment.
The core issue, job seekers say, is the lack of practical opportunities to gain relevant work experience before graduation. More than half (53.2%) of respondents said they had no job-related experience during university.
“The shift in recruitment—from open calls to rolling hires, and from new grads to ‘semi-experienced’ workers—is accelerating due to global uncertainty and the rapid rise of AI,” said the KCCI. “To bridge this employment divide, universities and policymakers must expand internship programs, provide credit-linked practical training, and overhaul curricula toward job-ready skills.”
The report also noted a mismatch in salary expectations. The average desired salary among new graduates was 40.23 million won, roughly 3.15 million won higher than the average 37.08 million won offered in job postings for entry-level roles.
Meanwhile, attitudes toward non-metropolitan employment are evolving. Among job seekers based in Seoul and surrounding areas, 63.4% said they would consider working outside the capital region—provided there are “quality jobs.”
When asked about conditions for relocating, the top requirements were:
-
High salary levels (78.9%)
-
Robust employee benefits (57.1%)
-
Work-life balance (55.8%)
-
Job security (42.5%)
-
Career development opportunities (29.1%)
Yoon Jeong-hye, a senior analyst at the Korea Employment Information Service, noted that “as job competition in the Seoul metropolitan area intensifies, resistance to working in other regions is gradually softening.”
To address regional imbalance and youth unemployment, Lee Jong-myung of KCCI called on national and local governments to enact bold reforms: “We need ambitious regulatory innovation, aggressive corporate incentives, and AI infrastructure development to attract companies and create promising career foundations for the next generation.”
M.H.Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
