”In that case I'll take a break”... Why is 4 million college graduates unemployed, the ”highest number ever”?

The number of college graduates who are neither working nor looking for work exceeded 4 million in the first half of this year, hitting a new record high. Analysis shows that a lack of quality jobs is causing an increase in the economically inactive population, mainly young people and those with higher education.
According to the Statistics Korea National Statistical Portal on the 21st, the monthly average number of economically inactive people with a college degree or higher (including college) in the first half of this year was 4,058,000, down from the same period last year.
This is an increase of 72,000 people from the previous year, the highest figure for the first half of the year since statistics began being collected in 1999. The economically inactive population is defined as people aged 15 or older who are neither employed nor unemployed.
The inactive population includes people who have given up on finding a job and those who answered "I'm taking a break" in the employment survey. Recently, the overall inactive population has been on the decline, while the inactive population of college graduates and above has been on the rise.
In the case of those with a college degree or higher, the number exceeded 4 million for the first time in the first half of 2021 (4,048,000 people) during the COVID-19 pandemic, but fell sharply the following year (-136,000 people).
In particular, the proportion of university graduates in the total population was 25.1% in the first half of this year, exceeding 25% for the first time.
This means a college degree or higher. The increase in non-economically active college graduates is particularly noticeable among those in their 20s. According to Statistics Korea's economically active population microdata, the monthly average number of young people with college degrees or higher (aged 15-29) in the first half of this year was 1.6%.
The economically active population was 591,000 on the 2018-2020 Korean War, up 7,000 from the same period last year. Kim Kwang-seok, head of the economic research department at the Korea Institute of Economics and Trade, said, "The economically inactive population, mainly consisting of highly educated people, is on the rise.
"This means that there is a greater employment mismatch between the more educated and the less educated, and that there are not enough quality jobs for them," he said.