More college graduates get hired

In line with overall economic recovery, the employment rate for college graduates is increasing. In particular, the hiring rate for graduates from two-year colleges was reported to hit a record.

In an annual statistical report, the Ministry of Education announced Monday that 104,731 of the 186,273 students who graduated from four-year colleges in August last year and February this year have gotten jobs, recording an employment rate of 56%.

This figure is higher than the 50.5% registered in 1998 and 51.3% in 1999, but it remains well below the 61.8% for 1997 -- before the nation¡¯s financial crisis.

Most noteworthy is that, 159,960 out of 223,489 graduates of two-year colleges found work this year, hitting a record high hiring rate of 79.4%. This rate is even higher than 75.5% in 1997.

Meanwhile, the employment rate for technical high school graduates showed a gain from 83.4% in 1999 to 88.8% this year, while that for regular high school graduates slid slightly from 18.1% last year to 15.5% this year.

The number of high school teachers decreased 953 to 15,351 persons from a year earlier, mainly due to an increase in early retirement among teachers, while that of middle school teachers was down 655 to 92,589 persons.