Factors in a Sustainable Labor Market: Evidence from New College Graduates’ Initial Job Placement in Korea

Daeheon Choi,Mira Yoon,Chune Young Chung,Jason Young

doi:10.3390/su12062386

Daeheon Choi, Mira Yoon + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062386

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Abstract

Young Koreans have been experiencing stress and employment barriers due to progressively worsening employment issues since the late 1990s. College graduates spend excessive amounts of time job hunting, necessitating institutional and policy measures to improve their initial labor-market performance. We, therefore, attempt to empirically analyze the relevant factors. Focusing on sustainable job quality, company size, wages, and satisfaction levels for students’ first jobs after graduation, and we specifically use college education quality and graduates’ employment-preparation activities as independent variables and initial labor-market performance as a dependent variable. First, we measure education quality using vocational education and training, satisfaction with college education, and studying a language abroad. We find that they are positively associated with new graduates’ initial labor-market performance. Second, we measure employment preparation activities using internship experience, certificates obtained, and scores on standardized English exams. Internship experiences are positively associated with new graduates’ initial labor-market performance. These findings suggest that the Korean government should focus on establishing a sustainable labor market for new graduates and offer specific, diverse support programs to improve employment among young Koreans.

Highlights

In a 2014 Job Korea survey of 587 job seekers, 44.8% of respondents said that “building job competencies” is a priority in preparing for employment
This study aimed to demonstrate the relationships between education quality and job preparation and their respective sub-factors and initial labor-market performance and its sub-factors and to identify positive factors
With this need and rationale in mind, we focused on college graduates’ qualitative achievements in terms of employment or job quality and analyzed how these achievements are affected by qualitative, content-based dependent variables, education quality and employment-preparation activities

Summary

Introduction

In a 2014 Job Korea survey of 587 job seekers, 44.8% of respondents said that “building job competencies” is a priority in preparing for employment. It can be inferred that young Koreans invest a significant amount of time and effort into job-preparation activities. Hoping to enter and settle into the labor market successfully, they competitively build their job competencies and accumulate work-related experience to improve their resumes. The gradual resolution of college graduates’ employment problems and improvement of the overall utilization of high-quality manpower resources necessitates actively seeking institutional and policy measures that reduce the time college graduates take to obtain their first job and that improve their initial labor-market performance. Financial burden, opportunity costs, and stress associated with preparing for employment, such measures might be a fundamental solution for improving the quality of life, job satisfaction, and psychological stability of young people

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