A survey showed that more than half of job seekers who are actively looking for work consider themselves to be in a "resting" state.

According to a survey conducted by career platform Saramin on 1,412 job seekers, 63.3% answered that they consider themselves to be "resting," as announced today (July 30).

While official statistical criteria classify people looking for work as "unemployed," 6 out of 10 job seekers view themselves as being in a "resting" state, meaning they are neither working nor actively searching.

The most common reason cited was the inability to secure a regular, full-time job (70.9%, multiple responses allowed).

This was followed by feeling like they are not engaging in productive activities (37.9%), spending time without doing anything (34.6%), not participating in economic activities such as part-time work (28.9%), and taking time to recover and recharge (20.6%).


However, 81.4% of those who answered that they are resting turned out to have continuously pursued job hunts over the past year or are preparing to re-enter the workforce.

They applied to an average of more than 30 job postings over the past year, and the vast majority responded that they desperately hope to find employment within a month.

Regarding the meaning of the "resting" state, job seekers mostly viewed it negatively as a stage of lethargy and giving up the job search (34.8%), but nearly half also viewed it as a breathing period for employment, such as reorganization (28.5%) or strategic waiting (20.1%).

(Photo: Yonhap News)