[Gen Z Stock Frenzy] 'Needle's Eye' Employment and Real Estate, No Option but Stocks for 20s

Difficult Part-Time Jobs After COVID-19 Crisis
Low Assets and Little Future Certainty
Impossible to Enter Real Estate Market
Closed Possibility of Social Mobility

20s Job Seekers: "Dividends Higher Than Bank Interest"
"No Problem as Long as Companies Don't Fail"
Blind Investment Fuels Debt

[Asia Economy Reporters Juyoun Oh, Gwanju Lee, Jeongyun Lee] The stock frenzy among people in their 20s fully reflects the socio-structural issues that young people in our society face and worry about. In recent years, asset prices such as real estate have surged due to ultra-low interest rates, but since earned income has remained stagnant, the dream of owning a home was abandoned early on. The era when graduating from college meant easy employment and steady work could secure an apartment is over.

In this situation, those in their 30s and 40s with relatively stable incomes but low subscription scores recently bought apartments by 'yeongkkeul' (borrowing to the soul) even amid the real estate boom. However, those in their 20s, with fewer assets and less certainty about the future, judged this impossible and joined the ranks of 'debt investing' in stocks. College student Cho (24, Mapo-gu, Seoul) invested all of his seed money of 3 million won in Samsung Electronics, Kakao, and Naver in March when the domestic stock market crashed sharply. Cho said, "Real estate requires a lot of capital, so I can't even think about it, and it's hard to grow money with savings, so stocks are the only answer."

Twenty-something stock beginners, or 'jurini' (stock children), are like younger siblings to the 'busaenga' (real estate newborns) term used for 30-somethings investing in real estate. Professor Gu Jeongwoo of the Department of Sociology at Sungkyunkwan University explained, "Because the entry barrier for real estate is too high, it is a rational judgment that people in their 20s turned their attention to stocks, which are easier to invest in and yield profits. This shows that as social mobility closes, people in their 20s are investing in stocks with a desperate mindset to prepare for the future."

Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, the job market has worsened to the point where even part-time jobs are hard to find, fueling their stock investments. Professor Kim Sangbong of Hansung University’s Department of Economics diagnosed, "There are too few places for people in their 20s to work. Employment is difficult, and in a reality where there is no suitable time to invest, stocks were probably the only option for people in their 20s."

With stock investment as the only choice, people in their 20s are even more desperate. Job seeker Kang (27, female) starts her day by checking the returns on the stocks she invested in. Whenever she has time, she looks at both domestic and international news. She needs to understand 'what’s going on in the world' to choose her next investment. Stock recommendations happen in group chats with acquaintances, and in job study groups, stock talk comes before interviews. Kang said, "In the past, people said 'if you invest in stocks, you’ll ruin your family,' but nowadays, there’s a saying that if you don’t invest in stocks, you’re a fool."

Fast information acquisition online is turning people in their 20s into aggressive investors who do not hesitate to 'debt invest.' This is similar to the rush of 20-somethings leading the cryptocurrency craze a few years ago. College student Chae (25) said, "Even dividends from stocks are higher than bank interest rates, aren’t they? I think that even if there is a nationwide COVID-19 pandemic, as long as companies don’t go bankrupt, my stocks won’t have a problem." Office worker Jeong (26) said, "I jumped into Bitcoin when it was popular and failed, which messed with my mental state for a while. But with stocks, I think if I hold on, I’ll at least break even, so I’m not too worried."

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