"A growing young population, which also means a growing number of college graduates, is one major factor in the job shortage," Song Tae-jung, an analyst at LG Economic Research Institute, said in a recent report.
Economists do not predict the jobs market will improve for young people for many years to come.
Song said the jobless rate for young people was expected to stay relatively high until 2007, even as economic recovery reduces the absolute rate.
The number of college graduates increased by 6.8 percent a year on average between 1996 and this year, faster than the previous five-year period. The supply of college graduates will steadily increase by 5.2 percent each year until 2005, he said.
For many young Koreans, the answer maybe to think what has long been the unthinkable and seek jobs with small and mid-sized firms, which actually suffer staff shortages, labour experts said.
"A bachelor's degree is no longer a rare thing like in the 1950s to 1970s. Young people should face the reality," said Ahn Joo-yup, an analyst at Korea Labour Institute.
But habits are hard to break in South Korea, where the country's conglomerates are seen as the standard bearers of the "economic miracle," bestowing prestige, security and better pay than smaller companies.
"I don't even look at them [small companies]," said Kim Young-min, 26, a bachelor's degree candidate in economics at Korea University. "There is no future there."
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