73% Employed Two Years After University Graduation... Half Work at SMEs with Fewer Than 30 Employees

Korea Employment Information Service Announces Results of '2018 College Graduates' Job Mobility Survey'
Majority of Men in Manufacturing, Women in Educational Services... 67.3% Regular Employees
Average Monthly Income 2.24 Million KRW... Engineering Graduates Earn the Highest Income

Asia Economy DB=Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] About 73% of university graduates were employed two years after graduation. More than two out of ten employed graduates found their jobs through personal connections, and about half worked at small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 30 employees.

The Korea Employment Information Service released the results of the "2018 Graduate Job Mobility Survey" on the 8th. The survey sampled about 18,000 graduates who completed university between August 2016 and February 2017, during which the total number of graduates was approximately 512,000.

Based on employment status as of September 2018, which is about one and a half to two years after graduation, 73.3% (375,558 people) of all university graduates were employed. The unemployment rate was 8.4% (42,900 people), and the economically inactive population accounted for 18.3% (93,712 people).

When asked about the route to obtaining their jobs, 32.8% answered "passing a recruitment exam," which was the highest, followed by "internet job search sites" at 24.0%. Next were "introductions or recommendations from family, relatives, and acquaintances (12.0%)" and "introductions or recommendations from school (academy) teachers (9.6%)." In other words, the proportion of those entering jobs through personal connections accounted for 21.6% of the total.

Looking at the distribution by industry, the manufacturing sector had the highest employment rate at an average of 14.8%. This was followed by health and social welfare services (14.4%) and educational services (14.1%). In particular, among four-year university graduates, the highest employment rate was in educational services at an average of 16.0%. By gender, men were predominantly employed in manufacturing (21.1%), while women had a higher proportion in educational services (19.9%).

By business size, the highest employment rate was in enterprises with fewer than 30 employees at 47.9%. The employment rate in businesses with 30 to 299 employees was 31.3%, and 21.0% worked in large companies with 300 or more employees. By gender, women (52.8%) had a higher employment rate in businesses with fewer than 30 employees compared to men (42.8%). Conversely, the employment rate in large companies with 300 or more employees was higher for men (24.1%) than for women (17.9%).

The proportion of regular employees was 67.3%. The regular employment rate for men (71.5%) was 8.1 percentage points higher than that for women (63.4%). Among four-year university graduates, the regular employment rate was 68.8%, which was 4.9 percentage points higher than that of two- to three-year college graduates (63.9%).

The average monthly earned income was 2,242,000 KRW. Men earned an average of 2,507,000 KRW per month, which was 519,000 KRW more than women (1,988,000 KRW). Graduates from education colleges earned the highest at 2,339,000 KRW, followed by four-year university graduates at 2,333,000 KRW, and two- to three-year college graduates at 2,065,000 KRW.

By major, engineering graduates had the highest average monthly income at 2,465,000 KRW, followed by medical-related fields at 2,446,000 KRW, and social sciences at 2,295,000 KRW. Graduates in humanities, education, and natural sciences earned similarly, with monthly incomes just above 2 million KRW. Graduates in arts and physical education earned 1,796,000 KRW, which was lower compared to other majors.

Meanwhile, when asked how much the major knowledge learned at university helped in their current jobs, 50.9% answered that it was "somewhat helpful."