"80% of Job Seekers Say 'No Work Opportunities'... Top Priority Is 'Wage Level'"

KEF Survey on Unemployed Youth
"Incentives Needed for Companies Providing Job Training"

Job seekers are looking at the job posting board (photo to aid understanding of the article). Photo by Jo Yongjun

Eight out of ten job seekers preparing for employment are experiencing difficulties in gaining work experience.

According to the "Survey on the Employment Preparation Status of Unemployed Youth" conducted by the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) on October 16 with 1,000 job seekers aged 20 to 34 nationwide, 80.7% of respondents cited "lack of work experience and career development opportunities" as the biggest challenge (multiple responses allowed).

"Lack of job information" followed at 45.3%, with "difficulty obtaining job-related certifications" at 30.8%, and "difficulty obtaining academic credits or foreign language scores" at 19.6%.

When asked which support system would be most helpful for job preparation, the majority selected "internships or work experience programs" (42.8%). This was followed by "employment-related financial support or scholarship programs" (20.7%), and "employment information from job portals or online platforms" (20.0%).

Regarding what they believe is the most important criterion for companies, 74.6% of respondents chose "work experience related to the job."

The Korea Employers Federation pointed out, "Although unemployed youth recognize the importance of job-related work experience, there is a lack of opportunities or information to gain work experience or develop their careers during the job preparation process."

The main criteria for choosing a company for employment were "wage level" (51.5%), "work-life balance and other working conditions" (47.4%), and "job suitability" (39.6%). By gender, men placed more importance on wage level (54.6%), while women prioritized working conditions (50.8%).

Lim Youngtae, Head of Employment and Social Policy at the Korea Employers Federation, stated, "There is a need to strengthen incentives and financial support so that cases where companies provide work experience and job training opportunities to young people as part of social contribution can spread across industries." He added, "It is also necessary to be cautious about promoting policies such as extending the statutory retirement age, which could reduce the scale of new hiring by companies."