"Young People Who Neither Work Nor Seek Jobs" Increased by 12% in One Year

Although the Youth Population Decreased, the Economically Inactive Increased
"I Want to Work More"... Surge in Underemployed Youth

Due to overlapping domestic adverse factors such as the December 3 emergency martial law situation, the Muan Jeju Air disaster, and the cold wave, the number of young people who are simply 'taking a break' has increased by more than 12% compared to a year ago. The number of 'underemployed' individuals among the employed who wish to take on additional work also rose by about 40%.

According to data released on the 19th by the Statistics Korea National Statistical Portal (KOSIS), the population of young people aged 15 to 29 who were 'taking a break' last month was 411,000. 'Taking a break' refers to people who are neither working nor actively seeking employment without a clear reason. These individuals are classified as economically inactive population.

This figure represents a 12.3% increase from 366,000 a year earlier. Moreover, considering that the total youth population during the survey period decreased by 3.0% from 8,306,000 to 8,055,000, the increase is even more pronounced.

As of December, the youth 'taking a break' population had decreased annually from 485,000 in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to 409,000 in 2021, 406,000 in 2022, and 366,000 in 2023, but last year it reversed to an upward trend for the first time in four years.

Monthly data shows that from May last year, the 'taking a break' population increased for eight consecutive months compared to the previous year. The annual figure also recorded 421,000, an increase of 21,000 from a year earlier. This is the highest since 448,000 in 2020.

Job seekers looking at job information at a job fair Photo by Yonhap News

The number of unemployed youth also increased by 2,000 compared to the previous year as of December. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points from 5.5% in 2023 to 5.9% last year.

It is analyzed that the disappearance of the 'year-end special' due to overlapping adverse factors at the end of last year also negatively affected the December employment indicators.

Even young people who have managed to find employment are not in a good situation. The number of young people in 'underemployment'?those who are economically active but wish to work more?is rapidly increasing.

As of December last year, the number of young people who could take on additional work related to hours was 133,000, a sharp increase of 37.4% (36,000) from 97,000 a year earlier. This is the first increase since the COVID-19 pandemic period in 2020 (65.4%).

Those who can take on additional work related to hours are defined as people working less than 36 hours per week who have the willingness and ability to work more. In the Statistics Korea survey, this includes respondents who answered that they 'want to increase the hours of their current job,' 'want to do other work besides their current job,' or 'want to change to a job (workplace) where they can work more hours.' Statistically, they are employed but often have temporary or short-term jobs, so they are also called 'underemployed.'

In other words, it is interpreted that the phenomenon of young people failing to secure stable jobs such as regular positions or experiencing longer job search periods and seeking short-term jobs for livelihood reasons is accelerating.

In fact, according to the supplementary survey on the economically active youth population, as of May last year, the number of young people unemployed for more than three years was 238,000, an increase of 9.3% (20,000) from the previous year. The number of young people unemployed for six months to less than one year also increased by 12.4% (20,000) over one year.

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