Doctorate Holders Losing Their Jobs.

Ph.D. holders are suffering recently as companies decrease a variety of research and development projects from their budgets.
According to the Korea Industrial Technology Association (KITA), the number of researchers with Ph.D.s in companies reached 5,115 as of the end of October.
But the number is decreasing sharply due to the current mandatory retirement age and transfers to other jobs.
SSangyong group recently aborted a research project to discover new materials it has been carrying out for the past 15 years since 1983. As a result more than 20 researchers with Ph.D.s lost their jobs.
Dongbu group also abandoned semi-conductor research and more than 10 researchers were let go.
Furthermore, since early this year, 632 researchers who worked at 31 private companies have lost their jobs.
Recently, some big companies set a target to reduce 15% of their researchers through either early retirements or layoffs.
A source at the KITA said, ' The growth rate of R&D investment by 2,149 major companies is prospected to be minus 11.4% for the first time ever. Accordingly, the sufferings of those who hold a Ph. D. will likely deepen.'