While career education policies have been developing quantitatively and qualitatively over the past decade, concerns about regional disparities are growing. Therefore, this paper analyzes the gaps and changes in career education conditions by collecting regional data from 2016 to 2019. Furthermore, using the collected data above and the Career Education Survey data in 2019, this paper analyzes the relationship between regional career education conditions and middle school students’ career development competency by applying a hierarchical linear model.
We find that human and material resources are all higher in non-metropolitan areas, especially in the provincial areas. The trend might reflect the government’s differential aid for different areas to resolve educational disparities. Next, the number of career counseling teachers does not significantly affect the students’ level of career development; on the other hand, the number of career experience institutions, career education costs per student, and whether or not to provide education materials has a significant positive effect on the students’ level of career development. This study empirically confirms the effect of institutional support from the government on career education outcomes and suggests that the government continuously support career education and improve the career counseling teacher system.