1. Youth Employment for 20-Somethings Faces Worst Crisis Since Asian Financial Crisis
From January through August of this year, the number of employed people in their 20s dropped by 5.6% compared to the same period last year. Comparing the same periods, this reduction is the largest since the IMF Asian Financial Crisis. The decrease of 193,000 people this year is more severe than the 142,000 decrease in 2009 amid the global financial crisis, and the 111,000 decrease in 2020 immediately following the COVID-19 outbreak. According to announcements by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, while the overall employment rate remains similar to last year, the youth employment rate alone has dropped by 1 percentage point. Furthermore, securing a first job takes 1.3 months longer than it did 10 years ago. Given these circumstances, in April of this year, the government injected 98.8 billion won in supplementary budget funds to solve the youth employment difficulties and planned the K-New Deal Academy. Alongside the Ministry of Employment and Labor, around 50 companies are running job-training programs designed to help with employment.

2. A Day in the Life of Job Seekers
The place I visited was the LS Mirae Won in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. It is a three-month live-in training course where participants stay at the LS Group training center to learn various skills necessary for their jobs, such as coding, report writing, and interview techniques. Because they spend 24 hours a day eating, sleeping, and focusing solely on job preparation here, their skills inevitably improve quickly.

[Kim Yubin (27) / Suwon, Gyeonggi Province: (It has been about a month since you entered the live-in program, do you feel things have gotten easier compared to when you first started?) Yes, when it came to handling data, I could originally only handle it at about an Excel level, but now I think I am at a level where I can completely break down data and extract what I want from within that data.]

From the perspective of companies, because they can design the training programs directly, there is the advantage of being able to foster talent equipped with customized job skills.

[Lee Woo-seop / Head of HRD Planning Team, LS Mirae Won: We are running the program so that competencies recently demanded by companies, such as AI utilization skills, can be fostered through this program. From the company's perspective, I think it has significance in being able to proactively secure prepared talent.]

Even after classes end, participants continue their own studies in study rooms—such as language study, certificate preparation, and project discussions—so their days here usually wrap up only after midnight. Kim Young-sik, who came from Wonju, Gangwon Province, said he is tackling this program with a desperate mindset.

[Kim Young-sik (32) / Wonju, Gangwon Province: I should say I am a bit more desperate. Because of my age now. Three months is even shorter than military service, and going hard for three months feels like it will prevent me from having regrets later.]

Cha Se-il, from Nam-gu, Busan, already has six years of experience working on a manufacturing human resources team. However, thinking that AI competencies are essential in a fast-changing industry, he voluntarily entered the boot camp as a fresh recruit in the job market once again. The job market he returned to has changed significantly.

[Cha Se-il (31) / Nam-gu, Busan: You can even tell from recruitment postings that they ask about AI competencies, such as what you have achieved by utilizing AI. Thinking of this as my last challenge, I am approaching it with a heavy heart. The ultimate goal for all of us is successful employment, and our mutual desire is to achieve that final goal after fully equipping ourselves with work capabilities.]

3. A "Boot Camp" for the Employment War
A boot camp is a military term originally referring to a recruit training center. Everyone has entered the facility by taking on the role of an "employment recruit." The average age of the employment recruits who entered LS Mirae Won is 28. Over 100 people applied from all over the country, and 31 were selected. The competition rate exceeded 3 to 1. When I visited, about a month after admission, 4 people had successfully found jobs and left, leaving only 27 recruits behind. Experts pay attention to the symbolism held by the term "boot camp."

[Lee Joo-hee / Professor of Sociology, Ewha Womans University: It means you have to enter the military like a camp and learn all day long. It feels like the job competition has turned into an employment war.]

This is interpreted as meaning that "live-in job preparation" is practically the process of becoming a soldier capable of surviving in an employment battlefield. The young people who visited the boot camp were contemplating and preparing for their futures more fiercely than anyone else. However, on the other hand, while looking at statistics about those dedicating their youth to job preparation and a freezing labor market, I felt that what is most needed is an employment market where an extreme form of live-in job preparation is not necessary in the first place.

(Reported by Lee Se-hyeon | Produced by Shin Hee-sook | Video by Kim Seung-tae and Kang Si-woo | Video Editing by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Design by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)