8 out of 10 Youths Say "Employment Rate Below 40%"... Increased Anxiety and Helplessness Emotions

Korea Federation of SMEs Conducts Survey on Youth Job Perceptions
49.8% Express Willingness to Work at SMEs
Only 33.4% Have Experience Using Youth Support Programs

Asia Economy DB=Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] More than 8 out of 10 young job seekers perceive the current youth employment rate to be below 40%. Amid the employment crisis, most young job seekers are experiencing negative emotions such as anxiety, lethargy, and depression.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced the results of the "2021 Youth Job Perception Survey," conducted from the 16th to the 30th of last month with 1,000 young job seekers, on the 6th.

According to the survey, 81.1% of young job seekers responded that the perceived youth employment rate is below 40%. This is lower than the actual youth employment rate of 42% as of February. It is analyzed that this reflects the negative perception of youth job seekers regarding employment.

Those who responded that the perceived employment rate is below 40% cited reasons such as "reduction in hiring scale by companies due to recent economic recession (73.5%)" and "lack of opportunities for work experience due to companies' preference for experienced workers (70.3%)."

In this job market, young people mainly reported feeling negative emotions such as "anxiety (82.6%)", "lethargy (65.3%)", and "depression (55.3%)". A representative from the Korea Federation of SMEs stated, "The adverse impact of the employment crisis on the psychology of young people has been found to be considerable."

Additionally, young job seekers identified the biggest difficulty in job searching as "lack of opportunities for job experience and career development (68.9%)". This was followed by "acquiring quantitative qualifications such as certificates and scores necessary for employment (51.8%)" and "balancing economic activities for livelihood with job searching (43.4%)."

About half (49.8%) of young job seekers expressed willingness to work for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

When asked about the top priority considerations during job searching, young people chose "guarantee of work-life balance (27.9%)" first. This was followed by "satisfaction with wages (25.9%)" and "healthy organizational culture and workplace atmosphere (12.9%)."

Only 33.4% of respondents reported having experience using government youth employment support policies.

The reasons cited included "lack of awareness about the implementation of youth employment support policies or services (35.2%)" and "difficulty in finding relevant information such as eligibility criteria for receiving support (33.3%)."

Baek Dong-wook, Head of the Youth Hope Job Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "This survey can serve as objective basic data for policy proposals to solve youth employment issues in the future."

He added, "We will reflect this in the plan to advance the 'Pretty Good SME' platform, which connects young job seekers looking for good jobs with excellent SMEs in need of new talent, and provide customized employment support services that truly help young job seekers."