Signal Korea ranks first in the OECD for youth tertiary attainment but employment lags

Summary

The education overview observes that Korea has the highest tertiary education completion rate among young adults in the OECD. Despite this, the youth employment rate remains low, so schooling is not translating into labour-market success. The survey attributes the gap to mismatches between qualifications and skills and to a rise in graduates taking jobs below their level of education. It adds that job structures are changing quickly with AI and automation while institutional responses lag, although micro- and nano-degree experiments have begun in higher education. The high-school credit system, a curriculum built around career education, has also been introduced as the school system tries to respond.