From a year earlier, the number rose 4.7 percent.

"Companies recruit fewer workers due to lower global demand and deteriorating business environments. College graduates find it increasingly difficult to get the job they hoped for in terms of salary and welfare benefits," said Statistics Korea spokesman Sohn Young-tae.

"As a result, some of them have stopped seeking a job or gone to private educational institutes to be better qualified for the job they want."

Meanwhile, the number of jobless people with a college diploma has been on the rise since 2012. The jobless rate among them stood at 3.6 percent last year, the highest in 13 years since 2002 when the rate was at 3.7 percent.

"In short, one in five economically inactive people of 16 million was a college graduate last year," the spokesman said. (Yonhap)