Pure Science Majors Have More Trouble Finding Jobs

Among 810 college graduates from 10 science and engineering majors in 5 universities, only 351 or 43.33 percent successfully found their job in the field, according to a survey.

Moreover, among 638 graduates who majored in computer engineering, which is a popular field of study, 323 or 50.63 percent were employed in related companies. What is worse, only 28 or 16.28 percent of 172 physics majors got a job.

In addition, science and engineering majors have more troubles getting hired since they do not have access to humanity-related jobs. Only 26 out of all the graduates or 3.2 percent were employed in other fields. However, the actual number of those who found relatively stable jobs is far less than the estimation since the majority of them work in private institutes.

Unemployed science and engineering graduates reached 108 or 13.33 percent even though they graduated from these 5 prestigious universities.

A large number of graduates are found to be preparing for further study at home or abroad. Among computer engineering graduates, those who decided to continue their study in graduate schools in the country or abroad amounted to 184 or 28.84 percent. And 96 or 55.81 percent of physics graduates are planning to continue their study.

Nonetheless, a considerable number of them appeared to be involuntary for further study, since they cannot find a not and have no other choice but to study. In telephone interviews with 25 graduates who decided to get into graduate schools, 13 replied that they had to study in order to escape from the reality where they cannot get a job.

“Many of science and engineering graduates go to graduate schools or prepare for study abroad to belong to some organizations,” said Shin Jung at the career center of Korea University. “The employment rates announced by recruitment agencies are calculated without such ‘involuntary students’. Thus, it is hard to see that they accurately reflect the current situation,” he added.