In this file photo taken Nov. 11, 2020, a citizen looks at job information at an employment arrangement center in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of university graduates in their 20s and 30s who were both unemployed and not actively seeking work last month neared 200,000, a sharp increase from a year ago.
Among the 2.4 million unemployed members of the labor force who abstained from job seeking activities last month, university graduates accounted for 20.7 percent or 486,000, the highest number reported since 2003, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
By age, the university graduates in their 20s and 30s, when they usually join the workforce, accounted for 193,000, up 40.4 percent from 137,000 a year ago.
Among individuals who were not economically active or searching for work last month, the number of those in their 20s showed the highest growth, rising by 26.8 percent or 88,000 compared to last year.
The number of discouraged workers among the non-economically active population stood at 631,000, up 144,000 from a year ago.
More than half of the discouraged workers turned out to be those in their 20s and 30s. The number of discouraged workers in their 20s and 30s stood at 232,000 and 103,000, respectively.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
