Seoul, Dec 27 : The employment rate of South Korean students with Bachelor's, Master's or Doctorate degrees fell to a record low last year as the Covid-19 pandemic dealt a severe blow to job markets, government statistics showed on Monday. Their employment rate stood at 65.1 per cent last year, the lowest since the Education Ministry started compiling such data in 2011, Yonhap News Agency reported citing the statistics. According to the statistics, 553,521 people graduated from colleges and graduate schools across the country between August 2019 and February 2020. Of them, 480,149 were subject to employment and 312,430, or 65.1 per cent, were employed, down 2 percentage points from 67.1 per cent tallied in 2019. By employment type, 284,359 were employed at workplaces providing national health care benefits, 18,139 were freelancers, 5,317 opened their own businesses and 1,131 found jobs overseas. The proportion of company workers subscribing to workplace health insurance and freelancers increased by 0.6 percentage point and 0.1 percentage point, respectively. But the proportion of those employed overseas and self-employed fell by 0.5 percentage point and 0.2 percentage point, respectively. "Due to economic uncertainties stemming from the global Covid-19 pandemic, it was difficult for youths to find jobs overseas or start businesses," the Ministry said. /IANS