[Photo] Almost 50% of Korean university students say it’s become harder to get a job this year

Nearly half of South Korea’s university students think it’s become harder to get a job after graduation. In a survey conducted by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), 46% of the 3,477 respondents (students and graduates of four-year universities) said they think it’s become harder to get a job after graduation this year compared to last year, up from the 41% who gave the same response during the same period last year. The most favored job choice was a position at a major corporation (23%), followed by a job at a state-owned enterprise (19.8%); last year, this hierarchy was reversed, with state-owned enterprise jobs being the most favored at 25%. KERI attributes this reversal to an increased public perception that major South Korean corporations have implemented measures to improve the work-life balance of their employees. (Getty Images)