[Editorial] To Create Jobs for Young People, What Has Government Done?

"The ivory tower is full of sigh." The complaints by the college presidents to the related Ministers at the meeting to discuss the countermeasures for the employment of the college graduates demonstrate the serious condition of the unemployment of the youth in Korea. What has the government done on addressing this matter?

The university presidents appealed for a measure at the meeting, lamenting "the colleges has become camp grounds to create unemployed people." A university president criticized the government`s countermeasures saying that, "Such a plain countermeasure is like calling 911 after the whole house has burnt out."

The employment rate of the college graduates is anticipated to drop more next year from 56.7 percent of this year. Many corporations did not recruit new employees at the second half of this year and the business that hired some people recorded over 100 vs. 1 competition rate this year. A college that marked 59 percent of employment rate this year anticipates that only 15 percent of the graduates in February will find jobs. Hundreds of thousands of young graduates are likely to put their first step in the society without a job since the number of university graduates in February will be 250,000, college graduates will be 220,000, and there are additional 180,000 graduates who are looking for a second chance. The number of the unemployed high school graduates is 350,000, which doubles the number of the college graduate unemployed.

Finding a new job after graduating is one of the most important starts in life. If the graduates begin their first step in the society in a state of aggravation, it would become an unstable element in our society.

The basic function of the government is to provide jobs to the people. However, the government is scattering useless countermeasures. For example, the introduction of the internship and the field training programs are only patchworks like a bandage on the festered wound.

Many people have indicated that the failure of the educational and economic policy brought about the high unemployment of the highly educated people. The venture business boom for the development of the IT industry ended up with frustrating the youth, setting aside the creation of new jobs. The excessive prohibition created a bad environment for the business activities. And the government expanded the number of admissions without a precise estimation about the need of the society.

The society has to be refreshed by a new stream. The influx of the new graduates into the labor market energizes the society and drives the society to move forward. The unemployment of the youth will be deprived of this basic function of the society, accelerating the aging process of the society.

The government must set up a substantial measure to induce the graduates into the labor market without difficulties. The human resources development system of the school education that has failed to promptly respond to the change of society must be reformed. How long will the government ignore the precious human resources that are looking for jobs?