By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter



A large number of college graduates were unable to find jobs this year as local companies became increasingly reluctant to hire new workers amid the economic slump.

According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) Wednesday, the employment rate for four-year college graduates dropped 2.8 percentage points to 56.4 percent in 2004 from 59.2 percent in 2003, hitting a four-year low since 2000 when 56 percent of college graduates found jobs.

The employment rates for college graduates previously stood at 60.7 percent in 2002 and 56.7 percent in 2001.

Only 60.1 percent of high school graduates found jobs this year, marking a 11-year low since 57.9 percent in 1993.

The nation’s per capita gross income rose 10 percent to $12,646 in 2003 from $11,493 in 2002, with the disposal income held by households expanding by 4.7 percent to 619.9 trillion won ($595 billion) from 591.9 trillion won over the year before.

The average monthly income of urban households grew by 5.3 percent to 2.94 million won in 2003 from 2002, while monthly consumption increased 6.8 percent to 2.28 million won over the same period, according to the NSO.

Of the economically active population, 61.4 percent were participating in the labor market in 2003, down 0.5 percentage points from 2002, with the number of unemployed people increasing by 9.7 percent to 777,000 year-on-year.

The number of divorces in the country jumped sharply by 15 percent to 167,100 cases last year, while the number of marriages declined by 1,700 to 304,900 over the same period.

About 70 percent of divorce couples surveyed responded that personal conflict led to their divorce in 2003, while the proportion of couples divorced due to financial difficulties jumped to 16.4 percent, up from 13.3 percent.

The number of crimes increased 1.3 percent to 2 million cases last year, while the incidents of violent crimes, including murder, burglary and rape, rose 6.3 percent to 256,000 cases, according to the NSO.

Murder cases jumped 2.8 percent to 1,011 with the cases of rapes surging 9.9 percent to 10,365.

The number of traffic accidents also increased by 4.2 percent to 24,832 cases last year from a year before.

Per-capita alcohol consumption for people aged over 19 years fell 0.7 percent to 86.2 liters in 2003, while smokers smoked an average of 7.4 cigarettes each per day, up 0.2 percent from 2002.

The number of people using mobile phones totaled 33.6 million at the end of last year, up 3.9 percent or 1.25 million people from 2002, with about 11.1 million people enjoying high-speed Internet access, up 7.4 percent over the same period.

About 54.2 percent of households resided in their own houses in 2000 and it took 10.1 years on average to buy a home after marriage.

Housing prices went up 5.7 percent last year, lower than an increase of 16.4 percent reported in 2002, while the prices of apartments rose by 9.6 percent.

A total of 14.58 million vehicles were registered nationwide in 2003, up 4.6 percent from 2002.

Of them, 70.4 percent were passenger vehicles.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr