[Anchor]
The number of employed people in their 20s dropped by 5.6% compared to the same period last year, showing a sharper decline than during the global financial crisis or immediately after COVID-19. Amid the severe job shortage, live-in employment training camps have even emerged.
Reporter Lee Se-hyeon covered the scene.
[Reporter]
[There is a welding sequence from number 1 to 39...]
With an average age of 28,
27 job seekers learn coding from 9 a.m. at this three-month live-in employment training camp called a "boot camp."
[Kim Yu-bin (Age 27) / Suwon, Gyeonggi Province: I was making an automated solution to predict whether a finished battery is defective or good.]
At the boot camp, which takes its name from military recruit training, thoughts of employment linger even during break times and lunch hours.
[(Is it until October 17? One month. Will you apply for the job posting?) I have to apply.]
Although the daily routine ends after 9 p.m. every night, they do not stop studying individually even after coming to the dorms.
[Kim Young-sik (Age 32) / Wonju, Gangwon Province: Living here 24 hours a day, I keep studying with the trainees I work on projects with. I should say it is a bit more desperate. Because, well, there is age to consider.]
More than 100 people applied from all over the country, and 31 entered after passing document and interview screenings. Four of them succeeded in getting jobs and left the camp after just one month.
[Eun Ji-won / Boot Camp Instructor: Since living-in is not an easy decision for the students either, there are many students who have a correspondingly high will to learn...]
The boot camp is part of the "K-New Deal Academy," for which the government injected 988 billion won from a supplementary budget in April to solve youth unemployment, and participation fees are free.
About 50 companies receiving tax support and other benefits provide venues and run the educational programs.
[Lee Joo-hee / Professor of Sociology, Ewha Womans University: It means that (boot camps) require entering like the military and learning all day long. It gives the feeling that employment competition has turned into an employment war.]
In an era where getting a job is difficult despite having the highest qualifications in history, the exhausting days of job seekers who voluntarily entered employment boot camps passed by quickly today as well.
[Cha Se-il (Age 31) / Nam-gu, Busan: I am approaching this with a heavy heart, thinking of it as my last challenge. Our ultimate goal for all of us is successful employment, and our collective wish is to achieve that ultimate purpose after equipping ourselves with all the necessary work capabilities.]
(Video Reported by Kang Si-woo | Video Edited by Park Na-young | Graphics by Cho Su-in)
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