Half of Office Workers Hold a Bachelor's Degree or Higher... Last Year, Employment Share Surpassed Half

The Proportion of Highly Educated Individuals in Large Corporations Also Stands Out

Last year, the proportion of employed individuals in South Korea with a college degree or higher exceeded half for the first time. This has led to concerns that a university diploma is becoming the minimum requirement to cross the 'employment threshold' in the country.

A graduate is throwing their graduation cap into the sky at a university commencement ceremony in Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

According to an analysis of data from the Statistics Korea National Statistical Portal (KOSIS) and microdata on the 24th, out of 28,416,000 employed people in South Korea last year, 14,361,000 had a college degree or higher, accounting for 50.5%. This figure includes those with junior college (such as vocational college) diplomas, bachelor's degrees, and graduate degrees, marking the first time the proportion of college graduates or higher surpassed 50%.

The share of college graduates among employed individuals in South Korea has steadily increased. It first crossed the 40% mark in 2011, rising from 30.2% in 2003 to 40.0% in 2011, and further climbed to 48% in 2020. Ultimately, it exceeded 50% for the first time last year.

By educational attainment, the breakdown is as follows: high school graduates 37.1%, college graduates 31.8%, junior college graduates 13.9%, middle school graduates 6.5%, elementary school graduates or below 5.9%, and graduate degree holders 4.8%.

There is a significant educational gap depending on company size. Among 25,329,000 employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 300 employees last year, 11,908,000 had a college degree or higher, accounting for 47%, while the rest had a high school diploma or lower.

In contrast, among 3,087,000 employees in large companies, 2,453,000 had a college degree or higher, making up 79.5%. This means that four out of five employees in large companies were college graduates. The breakdown was 54.7% college graduates, 12.5% graduate degree holders, and 12.3% junior college graduates. High school graduates accounted for 18.9%, middle school graduates 1.0%, and elementary school graduates or below 0.6%.

Historically, the increase in the proportion of highly educated workers has been greater in large companies than in SMEs. Last year, the proportion of college graduates or higher among employees in large companies rose by 24.2 percentage points (p) compared to 55.3% in 2003, which was a larger increase than the 19.0 percentage points in SMEs during the same period. Additionally, the share of graduate degree holders (master’s and doctoral) employed in large companies last year was 12.5%, which is 3.2 times higher than the 3.9% in SMEs.