Over 3 Million Highly Educated People Unemployed

The number of unemployed people with an advanced education surpassed 3 million this year. According to the Hyundai Research Institute, which analysed the data from Statistics Korea, the so-called economically inactive population with at least a university degrees was 3.09 million in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 18.4 percent of the total.

This is the highest percentage since statistics began.

And the numbers are growing fast. According to the institute, they soared from 1.59 million in 2000 to break the two-million mark for the first time in 2004. Last year, they reached 2.98 million.

In other words, the number has grown by a million over a decade.

Those in their 30s made up the largest group with 35.7 percent, followed by those in their 40s with 21 percent. Those in their 20s made up 20.4 percent, those in their 60s 13.5 percent, and those in their 50s 9.4 percent.

Some 629,000 young people have not been able to find a job after graduating from university, accounting for 20.4 percent of the total. The number of young people who give up job hunting altogether is growing every year.