Why South Korea Can’t Quit College

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | September 25, 2019 | Preston Cooper

[karpov]

More advanced societies tend to have more educated citizens, which is one reason why politicians of all stripes call for sending more students to college. One country has taken that impulse to its logical extreme—but has found that more is not always better.

South Korea has a more educated population than any other country in the developed world. Seventy percent of young Koreans (ages 25-34) have completed some higher education, and a similar proportion of high school graduates continue on to college or university each year. By contrast, only 49 percent of young Americans have a degree beyond high school. The rich-world average is just 44 percent.

In every advanced nation, university graduates out-earn those with only a high school degree. But when the number of workers with a university degree rises, the number of university-level jobs often doesn’t keep pace. Korea’s glut of educated workers means that those with higher degrees earn just 24 percent more than high school graduates, compared to a 69 percent earnings boost in the United States. And in a stunning reversal of a near-universal norm, young Koreans with a university degree have a higher unemployment rate than their less-educated peers.

“High youth unemployment [in Korea] is reflective of a structural, supply-demand mismatch in the labor market,” reports economist Tieying Ma in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The World Economic Forum estimates that nearly half of Koreans are overqualified for their jobs. Yet at the same time, employers clamor that universities gloss over many practical skills that the Korean labor market desperately needs.

Ironically, while left-wing politicians argue that America can boost its college attainment rate by making public universities tuition-free, South Korea became the most educated country in the world by following the opposite model.

[karpov]

A graph at the site shows that Germany has the lowest share among OECD nations of people aged 25-34 with higher education, only 32%, but their economy has done pretty well.

[C19fan]

Germany is well known for their apprenticeship and technical programs.

[billorites]

I've had a number of Korean students in recent years at the college where I teach. They tend to be smart and hard working.

Plus, they can drink you under the table.

[nwrep]

Yes, Koreans can out-drink anyone.

[C19fan]

My father is Korean and I seemed to have missed out on those genes. One beer makes my face red.

[Wuli]

Germany has good vocational schools and apprenticeships.

[C19fan]

Too add even more insult to my ancestors my mother is Irish/Scottish mixture. One shot of whiskey for me...game over.

[Jakarta ex-pat]

Goenbae!
Lucky enough to have taught both north and south koreans.
Amazing people!

[blueunicorn6]

Virtually everyone teaching at elementary and secondary schools has a college degree.

What, exactly, are they teaching our young people?

[jmacusa]

I’d learn plumbing.

[Svartalfiar]

Ironically, while left-wing politicians argue that America can boost its college attainment rate by making public universities tuition-free, South Korea became the most educated country in the world by following the opposite model.

Really? That's an interesting datapoint.