One in five young adults finds a job right after graduation

A study revealed that only one in five young adults in their 20s successfully secures a job immediately after graduating from high school or college. Furthermore, three in ten individuals take more than two years to find their first job.

According to the Korea Employment Information Service on Friday, associate research fellow Hwang Gwang-hoon recently published a report titled "Employment Characteristics and Changes of the Young Generation in Their 20s." In this report, he analyzed data from the Youth Panel Survey, examining 5,564 individuals aged 20 to 29 who were employed for the first time between 2007 and 2020. His analysis revealed that it took an average of 17 months after graduation for these individuals to secure their first job.

Among them, 20.6% found employment immediately after graduation, while 27.3% took more than two years to secure their first job. Notably, young people who graduated from high school took longer to find their first job than those who graduated from college.

The shorter the time it took to secure their first job after graduation, the higher their chances of obtaining a good job. Among young people who were employed immediately after graduation, 73.1% were employed full-time. In contrast, only 51.4% of those who found employment one year after graduation were employed full-time. Additionally, 34.8% of those who secured jobs immediately after graduation joined large companies with 300 or more employees, compared to just 26.8% of those who found employment after one year.


Ae-Jin Ju jaj@donga.com