'Chwijunsaeng' Youth Decrease for 2nd Year... Left First Job After 1.7 Years on Average

Statistics Korea May 18 '2023 May Economically Active Population Survey Youth Supplementary Survey Results'

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The number of young people preparing for employment has been decreasing for the second consecutive year. The average tenure at the first job was 1 year and 6.6 months, down by 0.2 months. This means that, on average, young people quit their first job after about 1 year and 7 months.

According to the 'May 2023 Economically Active Population Survey Youth Supplementary Survey Results' released by Statistics Korea on the 18th, among the youth non-economically active population (4.164 million), the number of those preparing for employment exams was 634,000, a decrease of 71,000 compared to a year ago. The number of young people preparing for employment exams has declined for two consecutive years.

Im Kyung-eun, head of the Employment Statistics Division at Statistics Korea, explained, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, many students were unable to adequately prepare for employment and are now increasingly focusing on preparing for admission to higher education institutions.” This analysis suggests a trend toward preparing for graduate schools such as law schools or master's programs.

Among young people preparing for employment, a decline was also observed in those preparing for general civil service positions. The share of those preparing for general civil service jobs decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 29.3%, while those preparing for technical certifications and others dropped by 2.5 percentage points to 16.2%. Meanwhile, preparation for general companies rose by 3.5 percentage points to 27.3%. Notably, among male job seekers, those preparing for general companies (109,000) outnumbered those preparing for general civil service positions (105,000).

The average tenure at the first job was 1 year and 6.6 months, down by 0.2 months. The most common reason for leaving the first job was dissatisfaction with conditions such as pay and working hours, accounting for 45.9%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points from last year. Additionally, 48.9% of young people found their first job within three months after graduation, but more than half took longer than three months. In fact, 8.4% took more than three years to find their first job. The average time to first employment was longer for those with a high school diploma or less (1 year and 2.8 months) compared to those with a college degree or higher (8.2 months).

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