SEOUL, July 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's youth unemployment after graduation rose amid longer youth joblessness, statistical ministry data showed Thursday.

People in traditional Korean attire "Hanbok" review photos at the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 5, 2025. (Photo: Xinhua)

The number of youth graduates aged 15-29 declined 171,000 from a year earlier to 4,003,000 in May, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Employed youth graduates dipped 202,000 to 2,760,000, but unemployed youth graduates grew 31,000 to 1,243,000 in the cited month.

The duration of joblessness for young graduates was growing longer. The proportion of unemployed youth for one year or longer to the total climbed 2.0 percentage points to 48.6 percent, marking the highest since the 2009 global financial crisis.

The share of those unemployed for three years or longer reached a record high of 19.4 percent since relevant data began to be compiled in 2007.

The average time required to graduate from university extended 1.3 months to 4 years and 5.7 months, the highest since 2007.

The ratio of university students taking a leave of absence also climbed 2.5 percentage points to 48.9 percent.

The percentage of youth graduates who had ever had a job dropped 1.6 percentage points to 84.8 percent.