"Looking for Someone to Clean the Bathroom and Sort Recycling"... Lazy Youth Posting on 'Danggeun' [Youth Report]

"Time is money"... Outsourcing services that save time are popular
Household outsourcing services are familiar in Japan and China... Continued growth expected

Among young people, the phenomenon of the 'lazy economy' is emerging. This refers to a consumption pattern where time and effort are purchased with money. Representative examples include using delivery services as well as household outsourcing services such as cleaning and laundry. Hiring part-time workers to stand in line on behalf of customers at luxury brand stores, popular restaurants, or concert entrances can also be seen as part of the lazy economy. In the past, rational consumption focused on 'affordable prices,' but today consumers place higher value on 'saving time and effort' rather than just price.

"Time is money"... Outsourcing services that save my time are popular

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Recently, there has been a continued demand among young people who want to reduce the time spent on household chores such as cleaning and laundry. On the local community platform 'Danggeun,' posts like "Looking for someone to help with separating recyclables and taking out the trash," "Looking for someone to help with a thorough cleaning of a 24-pyeong villa," and "Looking for someone to clean only the refrigerator, kitchen, and bathroom" can be easily found.

Accordingly, sales of household outsourcing service platforms are also on the rise. The revenue of the non-face-to-face mobile laundry service 'Laundrigo' has grown more than 30 times over the past five years: ▲1.6 billion KRW in 2019 ▲7 billion KRW in 2020 ▲15.3 billion KRW in 2021 ▲37 billion KRW in 2022 ▲49.2 billion KRW in 2023. 'Laundrigo' is a representative household outsourcing service where customers hand over laundry, which is then collected, washed, and delivered back to their doorstep the next day.

The background of this phenomenon includes the 2030 generation that values work-life balance and the increase in single-person households. Typically, single-person households must manage both work and living alone, so the boundary between work and household chores is blurred, and time is often limited. Therefore, young people who prioritize 'work-life balance' do not hesitate to spend on household outsourcing services for convenience and time-saving. In fact, according to a survey on 'time-saving services' released by Embrain Trend Monitor in July 2023, 82.4% of respondents regarded 'time' as the greatest resource in modern society. Those who perceive 'time is money' accounted for 77.7% of respondents.

Household outsourcing services familiar in Japan and China... Growth expected to continue

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The situation in other countries is not much different from that in Korea. In Japan, demand for household outsourcing is also high. According to a survey conducted by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications from November 2022 to January 2023, 74.1% of respondents answered that they would like to use external services such as household outsourcing for childcare, which is a 40.6 percentage point increase compared to a previous survey in 2019.

In China, there is a similar concept called 'Lanren Economy' (懶人經濟). 'Lanren' means 'lazy person' in Chinese. The 'Lanren Economy' refers to minimizing the time spent on bothersome tasks such as household chores, cooking, and cleaning, so that one can spend time on desired activities. Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, a mobile application called 'Lanrenfang' (懶人坊, meaning 'Lazy Village'), which handles all kinds of unpleasant tasks, gained great popularity.

Recently, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year (Chunjeol), the demand for household outsourcing services has further increased. The Japanese news service AFPBB reported this month that "many Chinese households are doing thorough cleaning ahead of Chunjeol," and "household outsourcing service providers are receiving a flood of related requests, and their workload continues to increase."

According to Chinese market research firm iMedia Research, the size of China's household outsourcing service market expanded nearly threefold from 277.6 billion yuan (approximately 55 trillion KRW) in 2015 to 1.089 trillion yuan (approximately 215 trillion KRW) in 2022. The market size is expected to maintain its growth trend and exceed 1.3 trillion yuan (approximately 257 trillion KRW) by 2027.