Classifying Job Satisfaction Profiles of Vocational High School Graduates and Exploring Predictors: a Focus on Educational Factors

This study utilises data from the Korea Employment and Employability Research Institute's (KEEP) Young Adult Labour Market Transition Tracking Survey to categorise latent profiles of vocational school graduates based on their level of job satisfaction. It also investigates the educational factors that impact this classification through multinomial logistic regression analysis. The main findings are as follows. The study classified the latent profile of job satisfaction of vocational school graduates into three types based on the information index and classification quality. It was discovered that the levels of 10 subfactors of each profile shared similar characteristics within the group. Additionally, the study found that the educational factors of the current workplace are crucial for enhancing the job satisfaction of workers from vocational backgrounds. This study introduced variables related to major-job congruence and final degree, which correspond to educational background, as well as current workplace-related educational factors as factors affecting the classification of job satisfaction latent profiles. However, only current workplace-related educational factors were verified as valid variables for classification. Workers with low levels of job satisfaction are more likely to be satisfied with the education and training provided by their current workplace. Providing sufficient opportunities for education and training can improve their job satisfaction.