Despite Record High Employment Rate, Perceived Cold Employment Climate... Ministry of Employment to Announce Youth and Elderly Measures Soon

Although Last Year's Employment Rate Was High, Challenges Remain
"Youth Taking Breaks for Longer Periods... Policy Attention Needed"
Rising Employment Rate Among Women in Their 30s Is Noteworthy
"Creating Conditions for Continued Employment Is Important"

Although last year's employment rate was the highest ever, there was an evaluation that the perceived employment situation was not good due to considerable difficulties faced by vulnerable groups such as youth, women, and the elderly. The government plans to focus its policy efforts in the first quarter by strengthening tailored support for each vulnerable group this year. It also announced plans to present measures related to youth this month and employment policy directions targeting the elderly next month.

On the 16th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor held the '2024 Employment Trend Briefing' at the Government Complex Sejong. This was to review the overall employment situation and notable points following the announcement of last year's employment trends the day before, and to explain the main policy directions for this year.

The Ministry pointed out that quantitative indicators were favorable, with last year's employment rate reaching a record high of 62.7%. Although the increase in the number of employed persons was adjusted, considering the declining population trend, it explained that focusing on the rate rather than just the increase in numbers is important to understand the current employment situation.

However, when looking separately at vulnerable employment groups such as youth, women, and the elderly, the Ministry judged that there are considerable challenges. In the case of youth, it is difficult to find jobs as the number of career-based recruitments increases while quality jobs desired by them are insufficient. The lengthening period to find employment and the increasing proportion of those who are taking a break are also concerning factors.

In fact, the number of youth taking a break was 421,000 last year, up from 401,000 the previous year. The Ministry plans to promote related policies this year considering that youth remaining in the economically inactive population and those taking breaks during job transitions or career changes are mixed. Among youth taking breaks, the proportion of those with a high school diploma or less (59.4%) is higher than those with a college degree or higher (40.6%), so related issues will also receive attention.

An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, "It is important to look at the duration of the break period from a policy perspective." They added, "If the youth took a break during the job transition process, the break period would not be long, but if it has lengthened, it can be seen as difficulty entering the labor market. Overall, cases where the break period is less than one year are more common, but some exceed one year, so policy interest should be high."

For women, the employment rate increased mainly among those in their 30s, but it remains low compared to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Last year, the employment rate for women aged 30 to 39 was 71.3%, up 3.3 percentage points from the previous year. This increase was significant compared to the overall employment rate increase of 0.6 percentage points.

An official from the Ministry said, "Creating conditions for women in their 30s to continue working without leaving the labor market will be an important task." They added, "Since the overall female employment rate is still lower than the OECD average and the wage gap remains, efforts must continue to create better conditions."

Regarding the elderly aged 60 and over, their share in the labor market is increasing, but there are considerable problems due to the high elderly poverty rate. The proportion of elderly among total employed persons rose from 18.9% in 2020 to 22.7% last year, and the elderly poverty rate was 39.7% as of 2022, ranking first ahead of Estonia (37.4%) and the United States (23.1%).

Unlike other countries such as Japan and the United States, where workers aged 65 and over are distributed across various industries, in South Korea they are concentrated mainly in health and welfare, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors, which is also a point to consider. The Ministry plans to focus policies on efficient workforce utilization suitable for the super-aged era, as the retirement of the second baby boomer generation (born 1964?1974) has begun in earnest and demand for continued employment is increasing.

An official from the Ministry said, "Due to the base effect of a large increase in employed persons in January and February last year, there are constraints in January and February this year." They added, "Although improvements are expected after March, since the first quarter may not be easy, we are considering early implementation of direct government job projects."

They continued, "Regarding youth, we plan to announce measures outlining which areas to focus on this year." They also previewed, "For the elderly, since there are different points for those in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, we will discuss employment policy measures around next month." Additionally, they said, "Employment24 officially launched last September and has surpassed 10 million members. We will also explain the achievements and improvement plans for Employment24 in the future."

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