Giving Up on Jobs to Prep for Civil Service Exams... Youth Employment Falls for 45th Consecutive Month

[Anchor]

The number of employed people increased by more than 100,000 last month, but a cold wind still blows through the youth job market. Youth employment has decreased for 45 consecutive months, and the youth unemployment rate rose by the largest margin in 5 years and 6 months.

Reporter Chae Heesun has the details.

[Reporter]

University student Park Da-bin recently began preparing for the civil service exam.

With open recruitment by companies shrinking significantly, and opportunities concentrating more on experienced workers over newcomers and engineering majors over humanities majors, she felt that finding a job would not be easy.

[Park Da-bin / University student: I am applying because I lack experience, but the qualifications state that applicants with experience are preferred. Civil service exams are a path where you can get in purely through studying without looking at credentials...]

According to a survey by the Korea Statistical Information Service, the total number of employed people last month increased by 108,000 from a year earlier, recording a double-digit increase for the first time in four months.

This is analyzed to be the result of factors such as the announcement of civil service exam results and the expansion of public jobs.

However, the situation for the youth group worsened.

Employed youths aged 15 to 29 decreased by 191,000, marking the 45th consecutive month of decline.

This is not simply due to a decrease in the youth population.

The youth employment rate, which represents the proportion of employed individuals among the total youth population, also fell 1.6 percentage points from a year earlier to 44.2 percent, continuing a downward trend for 27 months.

The youth unemployment rate also rose.

Young people are preparing for employment by obtaining various certificates and gaining internship experience, but

[Yoo Min-jin / University student: It is very difficult to get a job with just one major. So having a double major is practically a must, and you really need to build up your credentials...]

The youth unemployment rate rose by the largest margin in 5 years and 6 months since January 2021.

[Kim Kwang-seok / Adjunct Professor at Hanyang University: Because stable jobs are not being supplied, the phenomenon of young people attempting short-term, unstable jobs and quickly transitioning back into the unemployed is becoming prominent.]

The government plans to announce a plan soon to create 300,000 jobs encompassing the private sector, public sector, and startups.

However, there are growing concerns that the cold wave in youth employment could be prolonged due to jobless growth driven by the introduction of AI and growth skewed heavily toward semiconductors.

(Photo: Lee Jae-young | Video Editing: Choi Jin-hwa | VJ: Jung Han-wook)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.