[Anchor]

While the number of employed people increased by more than 180,000 last month, young people continue to face a freezing job market. Youth employment rates have fallen for 28 consecutive months, and the unemployment rate has reached a four-year high. To break through the narrow employment barrier, young job seekers—ranging from graduate students to soldiers awaiting discharge—flocked to a job fair.

Reporter Chae Heesun has the story.

[Reporter]

A job fair is in full swing with recruitment briefings and consultations.

Young people continue to visit in hopes of grabbing even the smallest opportunity.

[Kim Min-jung / Hanam, Gyeonggi Province: It seems a bit tough just to get your application through. If I submit about 20 applications, maybe one gets accepted. I even went to graduate school...]

They get their resumes and cover letters checked to figure out why they keep getting rejected.

[(What field are you preparing for?) I was thinking about overseas sales, but I felt like I wouldn't have enough competitiveness...]

Soldiers about to be discharged also took leave and visited out of employment worries.

[Kim Gi-hyeok / Army Corporal: Wondering what I can do after discharge... (Finding a job) is not easy, and even when people do find jobs, most end up taking positions that don't satisfy them...]

Last month, the number of employed people aged 15 and older stood at 29,151,000, an increase of 184,000 from a year earlier.

This marks the largest increase in five months since March.

However, the situation is different for young adults.

The number of employed youth aged 15 to 29 decreased by 143,000 compared to a year ago.

This is a decline for 46 consecutive months.

While one might wonder if the decrease in the number of employed youth is simply due to a shrinking youth population, the youth employment rate—which measures the proportion of employed individuals among the entire youth population—also dropped to 44.1%, down 1 percentage point from a year earlier.

This is the 28th consecutive month of decline in the employment rate.

[Bin Hyun-jun / Director General of the Social Statistics Bureau at the National Data Agency: While there were increases in arts and sports, and finance and insurance, youth employment decreased in information and technology, health and welfare, and manufacturing...]

The youth unemployment rate hit 5.4%, the highest for the month of August in four years since 2022.

Meanwhile, the number of young people classified as "resting"—who neither work nor engage in job-seeking activities—stood at 395,000, a decrease of 51,000 from a year earlier.

The government evaluated this as a sign that more young people are participating in job training and job-seeking activities, and stated that it will push forward without a hitch with the Youth New Deal policy, which provides vocational training and work experience.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video Reporting: Lee Jae-young, Kim Min-cheol | Video Editing: Yeojin | Graphics: Cho Soo-in)