East Asia Rising Pool of Unemployed Grads / Are there too many ?

Fast growing East Asian economies have rapidly increased the numbers of students attending university in recent years. Now the pool of unemployed graduates is rising to worrying levels in the region generally – and even in some high-growth economies.

Of particular concern is whether high graduate unemployment is a temporary blip or reflects a chronic oversupply of graduates, even as many employers say they cannot find people with the right skills.

Experts stress that Asian countries need to focus not just on expanding higher education but also ensuring quality at the same time if graduate unemployment is to be contained.

In South Korea the number of ‘economically inactive’ graduates has passed three million for the first time, according to government figures released on 3 February, up just over 3% from the previous year.

South Korea has among the highest university participation rates in the world, at around 80% compared with 15% to 40% for most advanced economies and below 15% for most developing countries in Asia.

“The main reason [for rising joblessness] is that there is a growing number of college graduates,” said Kong Mi-sook from Korea’s statistics agency. He believes the number of unemployed with college degrees could continue on an upward trend.

Other Korean government officials have said the oversupply could last for as long as 10 years, until demographic decline reduces the numbers.

In Japan the situation may be easing, although only slightly, after years of rising graduate unemployment.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Rising unemployment – Are there too many graduates? – University World News.

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