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Choi Hyun-hee (not her real name), 25, graduated from the University of
Incheon in February. Since November she has sent her curriculum vitae
to a total of five companies, including two conglomerates, Lotte and
Hanwha, and three Kosdaq-listed companies. Every day she scans online
job listings to look for possible openings, but with the average
competition ratio of several dozen applicants for every job, Choi still
hasn't found work. In Japan the situation is quite different. According to Japan's
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan's job to applicant ratio
hit bottom at 0.48 in 1999, but has steadily risen since then, reaching
1.06 last year. An index of 1.06 means that the Japanese economy has
more jobs than applicants. In contrast to Japan, Korea's ratio rose
from 0.58 in 2000 to 0.74 in 2002, but it has been dropping since 2003,
finally reaching 0.48 last year. The ratio is expected to rise for Japanese college
graduates-to-be, from 1.0 in 2000 to 1.9 this year and 2.14 next year.
The index for Korean college graduates was 0.25 last year. That means a
Japanese graduate can choose between two job openings, while four
Korean graduates have to scramble for a single opening. ¡ß Wide differences in hiring policies
As Japanese conglomerates rake in their highest-ever profits for
a fourth consecutive year they are scrambling to hire new workers.
Toyota Motor recently announced a plan to recruit 3,500 workers early
next year, up 345 (11 percent) from this year. This is the largest
number since 1992 when the company recruited 4,000 new workers. Sharp
also wants to recruit 1,000 workers, up 60 percent from this year, to
strengthen its key businesses such as LCD TVs and solar batteries. NEC
will recruit 1,000, up 35 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric will
recruit 1,300, up 18 percent. Meanwhile major Korean enterprises have frozen recruitment or
are steadily reducing their workforces. Samsung Electronics, whose
performance hit a four-year low in the first quarter of this year,
plans to recruit only 4,000 this year, down 10 percent from last year's
4,500. LG Electronics plans to recruit 1,500 this year, down 500 from
last year's 2,000. Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors plan to freeze
employment at last year's level of 1,200. According to the Samsung Economic Research Institute, Korean
enterprises are reluctant to recruit due to falling corporate profits
and increasing uncertainty in economic policies, all caused by the
recession and the sluggish investment environment that has continued
for the past few years. ¡ß Too many graduates with advanced degrees
Another worrying factor for Korea's employment sector is that
the education system is producing too many graduates with advanced
degrees -- more than the market demands. According to statistics from
the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, the number
of students at universities (not counting junior colleges and education
colleges) increased from 196,000 in 1990 to 335,000 in 2006. The
percentage of students going to college jumped from 33.2 percent to
82.1 percent, but the number of "decent jobs," or well-paying regular
positions, has dwindled from 713,961 in 2002 to 632,053 in 2005,
according to the Hyundai Economic Research Institute. (englishnews@chosun.com )
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