Nearly 70,000 More Youths Who 'Just Passed Time' During COVID-19 in One Year

Statistics Korea, May Economically Active Population Survey 'Youth Supplementary Survey Results'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jusangdon] In May this year, nearly 400,000 young people aged 15 to 29 who were neither job hunting nor preparing for employment exams but simply 'passing time' were identified. This number increased by 67,000 compared to the previous year due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

According to the 'May Economic Activity Population Survey Youth Supplementary Survey Results' by Statistics Korea on the 22nd, among 1.66 million unemployed youth who graduated or dropped out, 397,000 responded that they 'just spent time.' This is an increase of 67,000 from 333,000 in May last year. The proportion rose from 21.6% to 23.9%.

In May this year, the youth population was 8.934 million, a decrease of 139,000 (-1.5%) compared to the same month last year. The economic activity participation rate fell by 1.4 percentage points to 47.0%, and the employment rate dropped by 1.4 percentage points to 42.2%.

The average graduation period for college graduates (including those from 3-year programs or less) was 4 years and 3.0 months, an increase of 0.2 months compared to the same month last year. For males, it was 5 years and 0.7 months, a decrease of 0.4 months, while for females, it was 3 years and 8.3 months, an increase of 0.7 months.

The rate of taking a leave of absence among college graduates was 47.0%, up 1.2 percentage points from the same month last year.

The time taken to find the first job after graduation (or dropping out) was 10.0 months, a decrease of 0.8 months compared to the same month last year. The average tenure at the first job was 1 year and 5.5 months, an increase of 0.2 months compared to the same month last year.

The wages (income) at the time of employment in the first job were in the order of 1.5 million to less than 2 million KRW (35.0%), 1 million to less than 1.5 million KRW (23.7%), and 2 million to less than 3 million KRW (20.5%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.