A tough market is making it harder for young people to find work with new jobseekers taking up to a year to land a position, government data showed Wednesday.

According to Statistics Korea, the number of college graduates, dropouts and high-school graduates stood at some 4.82 million in May. Of them, about 4.18 million, or 86.8 percent, were employed or held a job at least once.

The ratio of young people who had work experience fell 0.2 percentage point from a year ago. 


As for 4.09 million first-time jobseekers whose first job was that of a salaried employee, the latest findings showed it took an average 11 months and 15 days to find employment. Compared to the previous year, it took an average 12 more days for a person to get a job.

The data then showed that first-time jobseekers and young people who are giving the job market a second try face difficult times.

The number of young people who remain unemployed rose 3.6 percent on-year to 1.47 million.

The statistical office said while it is hard to find work, about two-thirds of young people who were hired for the first time quit their posts after working an average one year and seven months.

South Korea's jobless rate stood at 3.8 percent in June, but the unemployment rate for young people, aged between 15 and 29, was 10.1 percent. (Yonhap)