Total Employment Rises, but Youth Employment Falls... Down for 45 Consecutive Months

[Anchor]

While the total number of employed people increased by 108,000 last month, the number of young employed people decreased by 191,000. Youth employment has been on a downward trend for 3 years and 9 months.

Reporter Chae Heesun has the details.

[Reporter]

Park Da-bin, a university student, recently started preparing for the civil service exam.

With corporate open recruitment significantly reduced and opportunities leaning toward experienced workers rather than newcomers and science 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 eligibility requirements state that applicants with experience are preferred. The civil service exam is a path where you can succeed purely through studying without looking at specifications....]

According to a survey by the Korea National Statistical Office (Note: National Data Office), the total number of employed people last month increased by 108,000 compared to a year ago, recording a double-digit increase in four months.

This is analyzed to be due to the announcement of civil service exam results and the expansion of public jobs.

However, the situation for the youth demographic has worsened.

Youth employment among those aged 15 to 29 decreased by 191,000, marking a decline for the 45th consecutive month.

This is not simply because the youth population has decreased.

The youth employment rate, which is the proportion of employed people among the entire youth population, also fell to 44.2%, down 1.6 percentage points from a year ago and marking a downward trend for 27 consecutive months.

The youth unemployment rate has also risen.

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

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

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, we are seeing prominent phenomena where young people try short-term, unstable jobs and quickly transition back to being unemployed.]

The government plans to announce measures soon to create 300,000 jobs encompassing the private sector, public sector, and entrepreneurship.

However, there are growing concerns that the employment chill for young people could be prolonged due to jobless growth caused by the adoption of AI and semiconductor-centric skewed growth.

(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.