By Oh Young-jin
Staff Reporter
Four out of 10 people in their 20s and 30s end up with a part time or temporary job, while a college graduate has to beat an odd of 33.5 against one to get a well-paying job at conglomerates.
According to the National Statistical Office, a total of 8.39 million people in their 20s and 30s were employed at the end of last year, with 3.26 million or about 39 percent working for a contract period of less than one year.
Those in their 20s get a more difficult end of the bargain as the portion of short time employees in this age bracket reached 42 percent, compared with 36 percent among 30-somethings. The statistical office define temping as employment of one month or less, while part time jobs are those with a contracting period of more than one month but less than one year.
By gender, about 770,000 men in their 20s or about 44 percent have short-term jobs, while 40 percent of women in the same age group or about 776,000 are temping or working under contracts of one year or less.
The ratio of short-term employment jumps to 50 percent for women in their 30s, while short-term male workers goes down to 28 percent.
``Many women quit jobs for marriage or pregnancies and come back to the job market for short-term jobs in their 30s,'' a statistician explained about the jacked-up ratio of women in their 30s temping or working part time.
Meanwhile, a competition rate for college graduates to get a job at top conglomerates was tallied at 33.5 to one.
According to Incruit, a job search portal, a total of 260,000 applied for 7,700 openings at 11 out of 15 top conglomerates that have completed the first stage of hiring new recruits for the first half of this year. The process of the conglomerates' hiring, conducted once each in the first and second half, is usually composed of three stages ― reviews of applicants' background, written tests and interviews.
The competition rate is higher than 32 percent in the same period of last year, reflecting a gloomier picture of the employment market.
CJ Group, a foods and entertainment conglomerate, showed to be the toughest to get in with the competition rate of 125 to one. Samsung Group drew a field of 21,000 applicants for 3,500 openings, a competition rate of six to one, which is slightly higher than the five to one rate last year. Lotte Group, a retail and real estate giant, showed a 60 to one competition rate, while GS Group 105 to one. The rates can be exaggerated or deflected, depending on recruiting methods employed by each company.
``Conglomerates which showed stiff competition rates usually offer a small number of openings,'' an Incruit official said, adding that the stats are not a fair ruler to assess the level of difficulty for employment among conglomerates.