This Year’s Vocational High School Employment Rate at 55.2%... Meister High > Specialized > General Vocational Classes

Proportion of Graduates Employed at Companies with 300 or More Employees Rises from 22.5% to 36.3%
"Positive Qualitative Change in Employment"

The employment rate for students who graduated from vocational high schools this year was 55.2%. Although this represents a slight decrease compared to last year, the rate of decline has slowed. By school type, Meister high school graduates recorded the highest employment rate. Additionally, the proportion of graduates securing jobs at companies with 300 or more employees has steadily increased over the past four years, which is viewed as a positive qualitative trend.

Yonhap News

On November 25, the Ministry of Education and the Korea Educational Development Institute announced the '2025 Vocational High School Graduate Employment Statistics.' Since 2020, this national approved survey has tracked the post-graduation employment status of vocational high school students as of April 1 each year, using public databases such as employment insurance and health insurance.

This year, the survey covered 59,661 students who graduated in February from 575 vocational high schools (462 specialized high schools, 52 Meister high schools, and 61 general high schools with vocational classes). The survey examined their post-graduation status (employment, further education, etc.) and job retention. The results showed: 15,296 employed, 29,373 pursuing further education, 1,523 entering military service, and 1,049 recognized as exclusions.

The employment rate (employed/{graduates-(further education+military service+recognized exclusions)}×100) was 55.2%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous year. The rate of students advancing to further education was 49.2%, up 1.2 percentage points.

A Ministry of Education official explained, "Although the employment rate of graduates declined slightly, the decrease was milder compared to a drop of 2.1 percentage points in 2023 and 0.4 percentage points in 2024."

The proportion of unemployed students was 20.8%, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from the previous year. This is interpreted as a result of more students deciding on their career paths before graduation.

By school type, Meister high schools had the highest employment rate at 73.1%, followed by specialized high schools at 52.4%, and general high school vocational classes at 38.2%.

By region, ten metropolitan cities and provinces-Daegu (67.8%), North Gyeongsang (63.9%), Daejeon (60.7%), Ulsan (60.3%), Sejong (59.8%), South Chungcheong (58.2%), South Gyeongsang (55.9%), Incheon (55.7%), North Chungcheong (55.4%), and Busan (55.3%)-recorded employment rates higher than the overall average (55.2%).

By company size, the employment rate was highest at companies with 30 to less than 300 employees. Specifically, 33.7% of graduates found jobs at such companies, followed by 25.4% at companies with 1,000 or more employees, 24.6% at companies with 5 to less than 30 employees, 10.9% at companies with 300 to less than 1,000 employees, and 5.3% at companies with fewer than 5 employees.

The Ministry of Education noted, "The proportion of graduates employed at companies with 300 or more employees has risen for four consecutive years, reaching 36.3%. This is analyzed as a positive qualitative change in employment."

Meanwhile, the job retention rate for vocational high school graduates who found employment last year was 83.1% at the first checkpoint and 68.2% at the second checkpoint, up 0.9 and 2.0 percentage points, respectively, from the previous year. The job retention rate refers to the percentage of employed graduates who maintain their health (workplace) insurance status after 6 months (first checkpoint) and 12 months (second checkpoint). By school type, Meister high schools recorded the highest retention rates (first: 88.1%, second: 71.5%), followed by specialized high schools (first: 82.0%, second: 67.4%) and general high school vocational classes (first: 76.8%, second: 64.4%).

The results of this survey will be shared on the websites of the Ministry of Education and the Korea Educational Development Institute within this month. The findings also include the status of vocational high school graduates by subject group, Korean Standard Classification of Education, and Korean Standard Industry Classification.

Choi Eunok, Vice Minister of Education, stated, "We will continue to strengthen job-linked vocational training programs and collaborate with relevant ministries to discover more quality jobs for high school graduates."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.