By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
The economy is slow, job growth is sluggish and competition is fiercer than ever, but a local think tank says, nonetheless, job seekers may be suffering from unemployment because their standards are set too high.
In a report titled, ``Unemployment: A Problem May Lie Among Jobseekers,'' the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) stressed Wednesday that there are jobs available, but apparently they're not good enough for today's picky jobseekers.
``The well-educated bunch isn't interested in laborious work, but employers are still looking for people who can get these tough jobs done,'' it said.
The country's jobless rate in March rose to 3.1 percent, according to the National Statistical Office. This is considered low compared to the OECD average of 5.5 percent, but the unemployment rate among the young, particularly those in the 20-29 age bracket, jumped to 7.6 percent.
President Lee Myung-bak pledged to drag down this rate to the 3-4 percent range during his term by encouraging companies to make investments, do better business and reap profits, as this will ultimately create more jobs.
But the KERI report alludes to the fact that such a mechanism alone can't ease the rising unemployment rate, therefore, jobseekers should alter their standards to work around the current situation.
``There are too many overqualified candidates with not enough jobs available for them,'' said KERI, explaining that companies are requiring a smaller human workforce due to advances in technological capabilities.
A Korea Employment Information Service's (KEIS) five-year survey showed that the uncompromising standards insisted on by jobseekers in the 15-29 age bracket is the main reason for their high unemployment rate.
Although making adjustments may relieve the situation to a certain degree, economic experts say it is wrong to pass all the blame on to the well-educated younger generation.
``The concept doesn't fit in today's education-driven society, where people study hard to get a well-paying job,'' said Lee Si-kyun of KEIS. ``The government must encourage companies to create more jobs and prevent work from leaving the country.''
The nation's top 30 corporations pledged last month to hire about 78,000 people, up 18 percent over last year.