[Exclusive] 240,000 Young People in Poverty at Record High... "Feeling Lost Trying to Enter Society"

Moon Administration's '240,000 Youth Basic Livelihood Recipients'
Impact of Support Obligation Standard Relaxation and Employment Market Slump

[Asia Economy Reporters Jang Sehee, Gong Byungseon, Oh Gyumin] "As soon as I was able to make a living, the support was cut off, making it difficult to maintain my life. I have to return to society in four months, but I have no money and nowhere to stay. What am I supposed to do?"

Kim Seungho (27, pseudonym), who has been a basic livelihood security recipient for six years and is currently serving in the military, spoke out with difficulty. Born into a difficult family, he faced severe financial hardship when he could no longer work part-time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hard to maintain a stable life with government support alone, so he worked part-time. However, even with the small amount of money, government support decreased once his income exceeded a certain level. It was ultimately a futile cycle. Kim said, "Without stable income, I sometimes had to borrow money, and some months I was left with only 5,000 won."

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Jeong Chunsook, a member of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, as of February, the number of young basic livelihood security recipients (aged 20-39) like Kim reached a record high of 244,864. With a total of about 2.37 million recipients, one in ten is a young person.

Compared to 160,756 in February 2013 at the end of Lee Myung-bak’s administration and 166,874 in February 2017 at the end of Park Geun-hye’s administration, the number of young basic livelihood security recipients increased by 52.3% and 46.7%, respectively. Factors such as the stagnation of the youth employment market and the relaxation of the support obligation criteria in October last year contributed to the growth in the number of recipients.

Choi Hyunsoo, head of the Social Security Finance Policy Research Division at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, said, "Employment market instability amid the COVID-19 crisis likely dealt an even greater blow to young people entering the market for the first time," adding, "Policy support must be provided to help young people escape poverty."

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