By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
The number of people who received Ph.D.s from local universities last year exceeded 10,000 for the first time, the Korean Educational Development Institute said Thursday.
Analysts here say that a growing number of highly educated individuals are vying for limited well-paying office jobs, adding the deepening "academic inflation" is further aggravating the already dire employment conditions among those in their late 20s and 30s.
The institute said the number of Koreans receiving Ph.D.s from domestic universities in 2009 totaled 10,322, up from 9,710 the previous year. In 1985, local universities only conferred 1,400 doctorate degrees. From 1985 through 2009, a total of 14,768 people received Ph.D.s.
The figure has continued to head upward over the past 24 years as more schools offer advanced graduate programs in various academic fields, with individuals pursuing higher scholastic goals. In 2009, Korean universities offered a combined 19,847 doctoral positions, up sharply from 13,052 in 2000.
The number of Ph.D. holders per every 10,000 Koreans rose to 2.1 last year, from 0.3 in 1985 and 1.5 in 2000, the institute said.
"An increasing number of people have entered graduate schools, with businesses seeking more highly-educated human resources specializing in engineering, medical and other academic fields. But at the same time, many have chosen to study further because they cannot find the job they are looking for amid the tight labor market, creating academic inflation," said Kim Sung-taek, director general at the Korea Labor Institute.
According to Statistics Korea, 81.9 percent of high school graduates entered universities in 2009, up from 33.2 percent in 1990.
Kim said the problem is that employers here don't need as many university graduates and Ph.D. holders as are currently produced. "The surging number of academic overachievers is a failure of the nation's education system and is worsening the labor market conditions, creating an employment mismatch."
He said these highly educated Koreans are only looking for "decent" jobs at large companies and public organizations, while shunning positions at small businesses, which offer lower wages and fewer benefits. Small enterprises suffer from a chronic worker shortage and have to employ staff from China and Southeast Asian nations.
"Many academic overachievers choose to remain unemployed rather than work for small firms, obstructing the efficient allocation of human resources in the Korean economy. This trend has made unemployment among young people worse than it should be," Kim stressed.
In February, the jobless rate for those aged between 15 and 29 reached 10 percent, up from 9.3 percent in January. It was the highest figure since it hit 10.1 percent in February 2000. This is more than twice the overall official unemployment rate of 4.9 percent.
leehs@koreatimes.co.kr
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