“Afraid they won’t find a job even after graduating”... Three in four college students who delayed graduation did so because of “employment insecurity”

[Financial News] A total of 7.4% of young people who went on to university have deferred graduation, and 76% of them did so because of employment insecurity.
According to Yonhap News Agency on the 22nd, in the “Longitudinal Study of Young People’s Transition to Adulthood,” released by the National Youth Policy Institute, 75 of the 1,011 young people who went on to university (7.4%) said they had deferred graduation. They said they needed more time to prepare for employment or were worried they would be unable to find a job even after graduating.
The survey tracked 2,351 young people who were in their first year of middle school in 2010 for 15 years, through last year, and received responses from 1,139. Among respondents, the university enrollment rate was 88.8% (1,011 people), while the graduation rate was 77.1% (878 people).
University enrollment rates differed by gender and place of residence. The proportion who did not go on to university was higher among men (15.4%) than women (6.7%), and was nearly twice as high in non-capital regions (14.2%) as in the capital region (7.6%).
A total of 53.4% of those who went on to university (540 people) said they had taken a leave of absence. The most common reason was fulfilling military service obligations (55.9%), followed by preparing for qualification exams (11.7%), preparing for public-sector jobs (11.3%), covering tuition and living expenses (7.2%), gaining work experience through internships and similar placements (5.6%), language study abroad (3.5%), preparing for private-sector jobs (2.6%), and family reasons such as caring for sick relatives (1.1%).
The most preferred job attributes among young people were working for a company with high pay (21.5%), a job that suits their aptitudes (21.1%), stable employment (19.9%), and a good workplace atmosphere (16.9%), in that order. Men placed more importance on pay and opportunities for advancement, while women placed more importance on job fit and the level of benefits.
Young people earned an average monthly income of 2,543,300 won at their first job and worked an average of 40.16 hours per week. Those who did not go on to university worked an average of 1.66 more hours per week than four-year university graduates, but earned 177,000 won less per month on average.
A total of 53.1% of those who did not go on to university said they had changed jobs four or more times, while 22.5% of young people who had not yet found work said they had no work experience at all.
Researchers at the National Youth Policy Institute said, “Young people who did not go on to university experience an unstable transition into the labor market, characterized by frequent job changes and short-term jobs,” and concluded, “Among unemployed young people, two groups are emerging: those whose entry into the workforce is delayed and those who repeatedly take short-term jobs.”
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter