The share of young people who have failed to find work for more than a year after graduation has risen to its highest level since the 2009 global financial crisis, amid a prolonged slump in the job market compounded by uncertainty from the Middle East war in May.

As companies expand experienced-hire recruitment and cut back on entry-level positions, the share of young people preparing for general civil service exams has reversed course, turning positive for the first time in five years.

The Ministry of Statistics released the findings Thursday in its supplementary survey on youth economic activity for May 2026.

According to the Ministry of Statistics' supplementary survey on youth economic activity for May 2026, the share of young people unable to find work for more than a year after graduation has reached its highest level since the 2009 global financial crisis. The photo shows a university job-placement center in Seoul on Thursday. [Yonhap]
According to the Ministry of Statistics' supplementary survey on youth economic activity for May 2026, the share of young people unable to find work for more than a year after graduation has reached its highest level since the 2009 global financial crisis. The photo shows a university job-placement center in Seoul on Thursday. [Yonhap]

48.6% of graduates unemployed for over a year; 3-plus-year share also hits record high

As of May, 4.003 million people aged 15 to 29 had graduated from their final school, down 171,000 from last year. Of those, 2.76 million were employed — a decrease of 202,000 — while 1.243 million were unemployed, an increase of 31,000.

The length of time graduates spent without work also continued to grow. The share of young people unable to find a job for more than a year after graduation rose 2.0 percentage points, from 46.6 percent last year to 48.6 percent this year — the highest since 2009 (51.7 percent), immediately after the global financial crisis.

The ministry said the lengthening time required to complete a university degree was also a contributing factor. Kim Rak-hyeon, head of the ministry's employment statistics division, said graduation itself is being delayed as more students enroll in four-year universities and take leaves of absence to prepare for employment or qualification exams — a structural shift now showing up in the data.

Particularly notable was the share of graduates who had gone three or more years without finding work, which rose to 19.4 percent from 18.9 percent last year — the highest since the survey began in 2007.

Among the unemployed, 39.3 percent said they were preparing for vocational training or employment exams — the largest single category — though that figure fell 1.2 percentage points from the previous year. The share who said they were "just passing time" edged up 0.2 percentage points to 25.3 percent, and those preparing for further education rose 1.8 percentage points to 12.5 percent.

The average time to complete a university degree stretched to four years and 5.7 months, 1.3 months longer than the previous year and the longest since records began in 2007. The share of students who had taken a leave of absence also rose 2.5 percentage points to 48.9 percent.

The share of graduates who had held at least one job fell 1.6 percentage points year-on-year to 84.8 percent — the lowest since the relevant survey began in 2004.

The ministry said the more difficult employment conditions caused by the Middle East war at the time of the May survey also partly influenced the results.

Civil service exam preparation on the rise; private-sector job preparation falls

Among economically inactive youth, 600,000 had been preparing for employment exams in the past week, up 15,000 from last year. However, their share among all economically inactive youth held steady at 14.5 percent, unchanged from the previous year.

By category, preparation for private-sector employment remained the most common at 34.0 percent, but fell 2.0 percentage points from last year, ending a streak of increases that had run since 2021.

By contrast, the share preparing for general civil service exams rose 3.9 percentage points to 22.1 percent, reversing a five-year decline.

"It appears that some young people are choosing civil service exams over private-sector jobs, as improved treatment for lower-ranking civil servants — combined with companies' preference for experienced hires and the expansion of rolling recruitment — has reduced entry-level hiring opportunities," Kim said.

For graduates whose first job was as a salaried worker, the average time to first employment was 11.2 months, down 0.1 months from last year. The average tenure at a first job rose 0.4 months to one year and 6.8 months.

The most common monthly salary range at a first job was 2 million to 3 million won ($2,030) at 42.1 percent, followed by 1.5 million to 2 million won at 23.3 percent and 500,000 to 1 million won at 11.8 percent. Compared with last year, the 2 million to 3 million won bracket rose 2.4 percentage points, while the share earning 3 million won or more increased 2.1 percentage points.

The most common reason for leaving a first job was dissatisfaction with working conditions such as pay and hours, cited by 44.4 percent of respondents. That was followed by the end of a temporary or seasonal contract at 18.0 percent, and personal or family reasons — including health, child-rearing or marriage — at 14.5 percent.


y2k@heraldcorp.com