Survey reveals 76.7 % employment rate among higher education graduates

Survey reveals 76.7 % employment rate among higher education graduates
Date: October 08, 2008
Source: Ministry of Education, Science and Technology

The overall employment rate of higher education institution graduates reached 76.7 percent in average, according to results of the 2008 Statistical Survey on the Employment Rate of Higher Education Graduates, announced on September 26 by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The employment rates of students graduating from junior colleges, universities and graduate schools(master's and doctoral level) marked 85.6 percent, 68.9 percent and 81.6 percent, respectively.

On April 2008, a total of 558,964 graduates were sampled for the survey, who had graduated from 374 universities and junior colleges, and 146 graduate schools nationwide, in February of the same year.

When counting full-time employments only, the rate reached 64.5 percent among junior college graduates and 48.0 percent among university graduates.

At the graduate level, 60.2 percent of master's and 61.1 percent of doctoral degree achievers found jobs upon graduation. In average, the full-time employment rate marked 56.1 percent, down by 0.7 percent point compared to the 2007 rate of 58.8 percent. Among those who found full-time jobs, 32.2 percent were employed at small and medium businesses, 9.7 percent at large companies, 5.7 percent at hospitals and medical clinics, 3.0 percent at schools, 2.7 percent at administrative organizations, and 1.3 percent at public organizations.

A total of 92,824 graduates had found part-time jobs, accounting for 18.8 percent of all employment cases. The part-time employment rate marked 19.1 percent, 19.6 percent and 16.8 percent among graduates of junior colleges, universities and graduate schools, respectively.

Of the February 2008 graduates, 111,727 were found to be in unemployment as of April in the same year.

Of this volume, 57.0 percent replied that they were searching for jobs, while 20.8 percent were preparing for state exams. Another 8.6 percent were preparing for further studies, 3.1 percent had found engagement as housewives, and 10.5 percent had not entered the work place due to other various reasons.

By region, the metropolitan area showed a gross employment rate of 75.2 percent among higher education institution graduates, compared to 77.7 percent in rural areas. When singling out the cases of full-time employment, the rates reached 56.2 percent and 56.1 percent in metropolitan and rural areas, respectively.

By gender, the total employment rate of female higher education graduates was surveyed at 75.4 percent, 2.6 percent point lower than the male average rate of 78.0 percent. The gap grew to 7.7 percent when counting full-time employments only, with a 52.3 percent employment rate among females and 60.0 percent among males.

By academic field, education majors achieved the highest employment rate(91.1%) among junior school graduates. Among university and graduate school students, medical majors were most successful in finding jobs upon graduation, with an employment rate of 92.0 percent and 92.4 percent each. By discipline, employability was highest among those who had majored in optical science and energy(94.0%) at junior college, medical science(97.0%) at university, and dentistry(94.6%) at graduate school.

Of all graduates surveyed, 72.6 percent found employment in fields that match their academic majors. Among junior college graduates, education majors were most successful in finding relevant jobs(90.9 percent). Among those graduating from universities and graduate schools, 96.5 percent and 98.7 percent of medical majors found jobs directly related to their major field, respectively.

Detailed statistics will be published later this year by the Korea Educational Development Institute, and also provided online for public access at http://cesi.kedi.re.kr.