Vocational High School Graduates' Employment Rate Rises 0.6 Percentage Points to 55.8%

On November 5, the Ministry of Education released the "2026 Employment Statistics for Vocational High School Graduates"
Share employed at companies with 300 or more employees rises for fifth consecutive year
"Quality of employment continues to improve"

The employment rate among this year's vocational high school graduates rose slightly to 55.8% from last year. The share of graduates who found jobs at companies with 300 or more employees also increased for the fifth consecutive year, prompting an analysis that the quality of their employment is improving.

On November 5, the Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute announced the findings of their "2026 Employment Statistics for Vocational High School Graduates." The survey analyzed the employment and further education status, as of April 1, of 63,038 students who graduated from 573 vocational high schools nationwide in January and February this year.

Ministry of Education · Korean Educational Development Institute

The employment rate among vocational high school graduates—the share of employed graduates among those excluding graduates who advanced to further education, enlisted in the military, or were recognized as unable to engage in economic activity—was 55.8%, up 0.6 percentage points from 55.2% the previous year. The rate of advancement to further education was 49.2%, unchanged from the previous year.

Among all graduates, 16,209 were employed, an increase of 913 from the previous year. The number who advanced to further education rose by 1,644 to 31,017.

The share of graduates who were neither employed nor pursuing further education or other paths was 20.3%, down 0.5 percentage points from the previous year.

By school type, Meister high schools had the highest employment rate at 71.8%, followed by specialized vocational high schools at 53.6% and vocational classes at general high schools at 37.8%.

By region, Daegu had the highest rate at 68.7%, followed by North Gyeongsang Province (67.7%), Daejeon (59.9%), Ulsan (58.8%), and South Chungcheong Province (58.6%). These rates were all above the national average of 55.8%.

By workplace size, the largest share of employed graduates—31.9%—worked at companies with 30 or more but fewer than 300 employees.

This was followed by companies with 1,000 or more employees (28.3%) and those with five or more but fewer than 30 employees (24.2%).

Notably, the share of graduates employed at companies with 300 or more employees reached 38.4%, rising for the fifth consecutive year. The Ministry of Education said this indicated that the quality of employment for vocational high school graduates was continuing to improve.

Employment retention rates varied depending on the time of the survey. Among last year's graduates, the employment retention rate was 82.2% six months after graduation and 68.9% 12 months after graduation.

The Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute plan to publish the findings on their relevant websites in December.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.