Measures aimed at jobs for non-Seoul graduates

The quota for graduates from non-Seoul-based colleges in government recruitment will be extended by five years to 2016, according to the government yesterday.

The government announced a set of measures to create jobs for young people at an economic intra-ministerial meeting presided over by President Lee Myung-bak. The so-called second job creation project for youth, drafted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, is focused on strengthening affirmative action-like policies for those graduating from colleges outside Seoul, which is a disproportionately underrepresented group in an education-mad country.

Under the project, 20 percent of the new recruits for fifth-grade public servants’ slots and 30 percent for seventh- to ninth-grade slots will be kept open to those with college diplomas from local colleges by 2016. Initially, such preferences were to expire at the end of this year.

Every year about 60 percent of four-year college graduates in Korea, or 280,000 students, are with diplomas from local schools but many new jobs, in particular so-called premium jobs at major companies or in the public sector have been dominated by graduates from a few Seoul-based schools, led by the so-called SKY - Seoul National, Korea and Yonsei universities.

At the meeting, the president said about 80 percent of the CEOs at local conglomerates were graduates from a few prestigious universities in the past but that has dropped to 40 percent with another 30 percent now taken by those graduating from non-Seoul area colleges.

He said such “positive change” in the industrial sector is also needed in the public sector.

“So far, most of the [high-ranking] public officials and chiefs of the public organizations were graduates from a certain group of universities, so the parents with school-age children have thought their children can take a good job only when going to good schools,” Lee said.

The project is also aimed at extending support for those without college diplomas. The government said for those having difficulty finding jobs due to having less education, major industrial complexes will be asked to adopt “hire first, educate later” policies, giving a chance to those employed at those places to study while working. Lee said although the country’s youth unemployment rate, around 8 to 9 percent, is relatively lower than other advanced economies, creating jobs for youth will continue to be his priority.

By Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]

한글 관련 기사 [중앙일보]
“대기업 CEO 상당수 지방대 출신인데 … 관료 사회도 변해야”
MB, 지방인재 채용 확대 지시

이명박 대통령은 19일 “대기업 CEO(최고경영자)를 과거엔 80%가 특정 대학 출신이 다 차지했으나 지금은 60%가 그 외 대학이 차지하고 있고 그중 반 이상이 지방대”라며 “지방대를 나와도 이제 CEO가 될 확률이 높아졌다”고 말했다. “지방대 학생이 길게 보면 진급하는 데 실질적으로 나아졌다”고도 했다.

　이 대통령은 이날 서울산업정보학교를 방문, 국민경제대책회의를 주재한 자리에서 “지금까지 공직자와 기관장의 대부분이 일부 학교 출신이었고, 학부모들도 (자식을) 좋은 대학을 보내야 좋은 자리에 간다고 생각했는데 근래 좋은 현상이 나타나고 있다”며 이같이 말했다.

　이 대통령은 “실업계에선 변화가 오고 있으나 관료 사회는 아직 변화를 체감하지 못하고 있다”며 “관료 사회도 그런 식으로 변화해야 한다”고 강조했다. 그러면서 “7, 8, 9급 공직자를 뽑을 때도 지방대를 배려토록 하고 있다”고 덧붙였다.

　이날 회의에서 박재완 고용노동부 장관과 이주호 교육과학기술부 장관은 지방대생의 취업을 지원하는 내용의 ‘청년 내 일 만들기’ 2차 프로젝트를 발표했다. 정부는 지방대생의 공직 진출을 늘리기 위해 2016년까지 5급과 7급을 공채할 때 각각 정원의 20%와 30% 내에서 지방대생을 우선 선발하는 제도를 시행하기로 했다. 고등학교나 전문대를 졸업한 뒤 취업한 근로자들을 위해 일터 주변에 학사 학위를 받을 수 있는 대학 교육 과정도 개설하기로 했다.