[THE INVESTOR] Half the college students in South Korea consider job market conditions have worsened this year, a survey showed on Oct. 24.

In the survey conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries, 52.6 percent of 3,461 students surveyed said job market conditions have deteriorated from a year earlier for fresh college graduates.

Only 2.6 percent answered that conditions have rather improved, while 26.5 percent said they did not see any significant changes.

The outcome of the survey was apparently in line with actual market conditions.

The unemployment rate of people aged between 15 and 29 years has remained at around 10 percent over the first nine months of the year, after peaking at a record high of 12.5 percent in February.

The youth unemployment rate came to 9.4 percent in September, compared with the 3.6 percent jobless rate for the entire population.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)