COVID-19 Triggered Youth Employment Crisis Realized... Youth Perceived Unemployment Rate at 25%

Youth Economic Activity Participation Rate Stagnates at 46.4% Last Year... Down 1.4 Percentage Points from Previous Year
Government to Develop Measures to Revitalize Youth and Women Employment in Q1

On the 29th, job seekers are checking the recruitment board at the 2019 Global Trade Workforce Job Fair held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The employment shock caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying. The number of employed people last year decreased by 220,000 compared to the previous year, marking the largest decline in 22 years since the foreign exchange crisis. With new hires delayed or canceled, the youth employment market has frozen.

According to Statistics Korea on the 17th, the annual number of employed people last year was 26,904,000, down 218,000 from the previous year. This is the largest decrease in 22 years since 1998 (-1,276,000).

The unemployment rate for those in their 20s rose by 0.1 percentage points to the 9% range for the first time in two years since 2018 (9.5%). The youth (ages 15-29) expanded unemployment rate (including unemployed, employed who want to work more, and potential job seekers) was 25.1%, up 2.2 percentage points from the previous year.

The economic activity participation rate of the youth last year was 46.4%, down 1.4 percentage points from the previous year, and the employment rate also decreased by 1.3 percentage points to 42.2%.

The non-economically active population who are neither employed nor seeking jobs increased by 49,000 among the youth. Those aged 15-19 decreased by 126,000, while those aged 20-29 increased by 175,000.

Among the 2,374,000 people who are capable of working but not working for no particular reason (the "resting" population), 415,000 were in their 20s. Additionally, the number of employed in the service sector decreased by 216,000, and temporary and daily workers decreased by 313,000 and 101,000 respectively.

In response, the government plans to actively implement tailored support for youth and women, and prepare measures to revitalize youth employment and expand women's jobs in the post-COVID-19 era during the first quarter of this year.

Experts unanimously agree that the employment market will become even more difficult. Professor Park Youngbeom of Hansung University’s Department of Economics said, "Since youth need to enter the job market as new entrants, it is even harder for them to enter the employment market," and added, "Even if the COVID-19 situation calms down, it will take quite some time for employment to recover."