Online Job Postings Down 60% Compared to Five Years Ago
Even Manufacturing Sees 20% Drop in Hiring
"Greater Impact on Young Job Seekers with Less Experience"...Experts Express Concern
"It's worse than during the COVID-19 period. These days, there are no job postings at all."
Recently, it has been revealed that the 'job drought' felt by job seekers is more severe than during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to sluggish domestic demand caused by internal turmoil and impeachment politics, prolonged high inflation, and tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in the United States, the economic conditions both domestically and internationally have worsened, resulting in the youth being directly hit by the employment freeze.
Job seekers participating in the '2025 Korea Job Fair' held at aT Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 19th are looking at the recruitment bulletin board. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung
According to the 'Big Data Nowcast' provided by Statistics Korea on the 15th, the number of online job postings last month decreased by 57.9% compared to January 2020 based on a 4-week moving average. This is a drop of more than half compared to five years ago and is close to the worst figure since Statistics Korea began providing this indicator in 2020.
The number of online job postings rapidly declined after the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping about 25% by early May 2020 compared to just before the pandemic. Since then, the numbers fluctuated due to changes in social distancing regulations and mask mandates. However, starting from September last year, the number of job postings began to sharply decrease, falling about 40% in October compared to January 2020. The downward trend continued through the year-end and early this year, reaching a record high decrease of 69.7% in early February based on the 4-week moving average. Fortunately, the decrease rate somewhat eased as the main hiring season began in March, but the job drought still continues, surpassing the COVID-19 period.
By industry, the most significant decline in hiring was seen in business support services. As of the 29th of last month, the number of job postings in this sector dropped by 89.4% compared to January 2020. Education services (-49.8%), food and clothing (-35.3%), and entertainment, sports, and culture (-32.5%) also saw significant reductions in job postings, indicating that the employment freeze is spreading across all sectors. Even in manufacturing, where hiring demand had been relatively stable, the number of postings decreased by 20.3% compared to January 2020, intensifying difficulties for job seekers.
Job seekers participating in the '2025 Korea Job Fair' held at aT Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 19th are lining up to enter the exhibition hall. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung
The 'Employment Trends for March 2025' released by Statistics Korea on the 9th also confirms the employment freeze among youth. According to the data, the employment rate for the youth (ages 15-29) last month was 44.5%, down 1.4 percentage points from the same period last year. This is the lowest figure in four years for March since 2021 (43.3%). The unemployment rate for ages 15-29 also rose to 7.5%, up 1.0 percentage point compared to the same month last year. This is also the highest March figure in four years since 2021 (10.0%).
Experts express concern that this hiring contraction will hit young job seekers with less experience even harder. This is because, amid economic downturn, companies tend to prefer hiring experienced workers. As regular recruitment for new graduates decreases and experienced hires increase, the number of young people who give up job searching altogether and are 'on a break' continues to rise.
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