The number of South Korean college graduates outside the labor force was close to 3 million in the first quarter due to the country's sluggish job market, a government report showed Monday.

According to the report by Statistics Korea, 2.95 million people with two-year college degrees or higher were not in the labor force during the January-March period. The number accounted for roughly 18 percent of the 16.39 million people outside the labor force.

The figure represents a noticeable increase from a decade earlier when there were 1.64 million non-economically active college graduates. The number has been growing on average by around 90,000-220,000 people every year over the past decade.

"The rise reflects relatively weak job market conditions in South Korea following the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and a steady rise in high school graduates going to college," the statistical office said.

The overall employment rate, which stayed above 60 percent before the crisis, has remained locked at around 58 percent in recent years, the office said.

In addition, the situation has been exacerbated by more people going to college. From 2004 onwards, about 80 percent of all high school graduates have gone to college, compared with 33 percent in 1990, it said.

Other factors contributing to the increase in the number of college graduates outside the labor force are more people leaving work to take care of their children and an increase of retirees, the office added.

(Yonhap News)