Engineering Grads Enjoy Better Employment Chances

In contrast to a general trend of students avoiding engineering majors, engineering graduates enjoy the highest employment rate at large conglomerates, with the exception of medical and pharmacy graduates.

The Labor Ministry's Korea Employment Information Service on Monday released a research report on four-year college graduates showing that 39.7 percent of engineering graduates have found jobs at large conglomerates. That compares with an average employment rate of 27.5 percent among all four-year college graduates at large conglomerates, defined as employing more than 300 people.

Medical, pharmacy and engineering graduates were followed by social science graduates (27.7 percent) and natural science graduates (23.9 percent). Art and physical education graduates ranked lowest at 12.1 percent.

Engineering graduates also enjoy better pay. The average monthly salary for four-year college graduates was W1.78 million (US$1=W1,049), but medical and pharmacy graduates earned W2.07 million, followed by W2 million for engineering graduates and W1.88 million for social science graduates.

The KEIS study surveyed 26,544 two-year and four-year college graduates nationwide in October 2006. In overall employment, regardless of employer size, medical and pharmacy graduates topped the list at 87.6 percent, followed by art and physical education graduates (82.5 percent) and natural science graduates (68.1 percent). In this category, the average employment rate was 77 percent.

Despite their relatively high employment rate, art and physical education graduates suffered adverse employment conditions as only small numbers were employed as regular or full-time workers, the KEIS said.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200805/200805270013.html

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Engineering Grads Enjoy Better Employment Chances