In recent years, there has been a "resting" Korean wave in South Korea, and it is rapidly sweeping among young people. The so-called "rest" refers to the fact that young people with education and ability are not willing to look for a job, but choose to "lie flat" at home.
According to data released by Statistics Korea's National Statistics Portal, the number of young people aged 15 to 29 who are "resting" in the economically active population approached the 500,000 mark in February this year, the largest since statistics began in January 2003.
The "resting" population of young people has increased from 386,000 in February 2019 to 438,000 in February 2020, 449,000 in February 2021, 453,000 in February 2022, 497,000 in February 2023, and more than 500,000 this year. In this survey, the unemployed who have been actively looking for jobs and are ready to find employment in the past four weeks are classified as unemployed; The economically inactive population over the age of 15 is divided into childcare, housework, schooling and attending classes, etc., old age, physical and mental disabilities, and others according to their causes. "Rest" belongs to the "other" situation, which refers to simply taking a break without looking for a job, which is different from the concept of preparing for employment, going to school, and waiting for enlistment.
South Korea, where per capita income has reached more than 30,000 US dollars, why are young people becoming more and more miserable?
South Korea's education system
In South Korea, the college entrance examination is of great significance. But these days, even if they pass the college entrance examination, enter a university, and have a glamorous degree, the life of young Koreans is not all smooth sailing. According to public data from the South Korean government, more than 1.26 million young Koreans are unemployed, and more than half of them have a bachelor's degree or higher.
On the one hand, it is becoming increasingly difficult for young people to get a decent job and fall into the crisis of unemployment after graduation. On the other hand, a large number of elderly people are pouring into the market for low-paying jobs. As of May 2023, South Korea's population aged 15 to 29 totals 8.41 million, of which 4.52 million have graduated or stopped attending school, and 1.26 million Korean graduates are unemployed. Of the 1.26 million unemployed, 53.8% (about 678,000) of young people have a university degree or higher, and 46.2% (about 582,000) have a high school degree or less.
40.9 per cent of the unemployed are preparing for vocational training, employment exams, state government exams, civil service exams and company recruitment exams. Another 25.4 per cent gave up looking for a job. The most common reason they cite for not working is "not being able to find a job that offers the ideal salary and working environment". Currently, the number of non-school students with employment experience in South Korea is 3.94 million. It takes an average of 10.4 months for these people to get their first job. Of these, 8.4 per cent (about 324,000) took more than three years to find a job. Only 50.6% of the employed said that their current job is closely related to their major.
There is a huge mismatch between the labor market and the education market
A large part of the reluctance of young people in South Korea to work is due to the mismatch between the jobs that companies are hiring and the jobs that young people aspire to or are qualified to do. Recently, Hyundai Motor posted 400 entry-level blue-collar job openings for the first time in 10 years, and while Hyundai did not announce the actual number of applicants, it is estimated that more than 100,000 people applied. This fierce competition is due to significant wage differentials. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor's wage comparison as of June 2021, the wages of non-regular jobs in large companies and formal and informal jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises were 69.1%, 58.6%, and 45.6%, respectively, of the wages of regular employees of large companies.
As the economy develops, this wage gap is likely to widen further. Many young people would rather be unemployed than accept low-paying jobs in small and medium-sized companies. Given the huge wage gap and the difficulty of changing jobs, their behavior is also somewhat understandable. Lee Joo-hee, a professor at South Korea's Department of Sociology, said the decline in job opportunities in high-paying majors has led to increased polarization in the labor market. Highly mobile, low-paid jobs are no longer limited to casual or part-time workers, but also include freelance and online jobs, which often lack basic labour protections. Youth unemployment is further reduced by the further reduction of young people's access to decent work.
Relative terms, South Korea's university enrollment rate exceeds the supply of high-quality jobs suitable for graduates, Lee believes that Joo-hee Lee argues. Lee attributes the problem to the dual structure of the economy, where large companies prefer to hire a small number of skilled regular employees, while many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have limited ability to create attractive jobs for college graduates due to unfair trade and lower levels of technology.
In addition, the government's fiscal constraints have hindered the creation of stable jobs in the public sector. About three-quarters of South Korean high school graduates go on to higher education (two-year college or four-year university). According to a government survey, more than 80 percent of South Korean teenagers plan to earn at least one four-year college degree, and 90 percent of South Korean parents have the same ambitions.
"Education bubbles" and "education inflation"
A former South Korean education minister said that South Korea is facing an "education bubble" and that the problem of over-education is driven by "certificateism". It uses academic qualifications as the best measure of an individual's intelligence or ability to perform a particular job. The high percentage of educated young people has led to "education inflation", where job seekers must earn a higher degree in order to be qualified for previously less demanding positions.
For example, a two-year college degree in cosmetology faces competition for a four-year college (bachelor's) degree in cosmetology. In addition to the most prestigious universities, education inflation has also diminished the value of work experience and diplomas. In 2015, 44.5 percent of Korean university graduates and 78.5 percent of Korean graduate degree holders said they were overqualified.
The mismatch in the labor market also hurts those who find work, as half of college graduates have jobs that are not related to their major. When high school graduates apply to colleges and departments, credentialism creates a mismatch by encouraging students to focus on attending the most prestigious colleges rather than looking for areas that match their interests. As a result, it takes an average of about nine months for college graduates to find a job.
Kim Woo-bin, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Labor, believes that there are some unique characteristics of youth unemployment compared to other age groups. For example, the pandemic in early 2020 had the most pronounced impact on young people, with half of the unemployed being young people in their teens or twenties. Currently, businesses prefer to hire those who can be fired at any time, i.e., short-term or temporary. In other words, the uncertainty of the outlook for the labor market has led companies to favor employees who have precarious jobs and do not need social security.
"Finding a different way"
Desperate South Koreans in the job market have chosen to target cryptocurrency investments with huge returns but greater risks, commonly known as coin speculation. According to South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC), by the end of 2021, there were 3.08 million young people aged 20-39 in the country, accounting for 23% of the total population in this age group. One out of every five young Koreans is flipping coins.
In the face of various farces and tragedies caused by the loss of currency speculation, the then chairman of the FSC, Eun Sung-so, once angrily denounced: "The government has no obligation to protect them, and if they make mistakes, we adults must warn them that they are making mistakes." The next day, nearly 100,000 people went to the Blue House to petition him to step down.
At the other extreme of the spectrum of risk, more and more people are choosing to give up their efforts or even lie down altogether. In recent years, young Koreans have become popular in a lifestyle called "YOLO", which is "You only live once". People only live once, and they have to enjoy the life of the moment. Under this trend of thought, "N Pao" has become the choice of some young Koreans, and it is becoming more and more thorough. The first batch is the "three throws", that is, abandoning love, abandoning marriage, and abandoning having children. Then there are the "five throws", plus the abandonment of interpersonal relationships and the abandonment of the house. Then there are the "seven throws", abandoning dreams and hopes. The most extreme is to choose suicide and abandon life.
Suicide is now the leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 39 in South Korea.
The future is far away
Education is too much, it is too difficult to find a job, and the house is too pitted, it seems that no matter what, some young Koreans can't escape the fate of being harvested. After trying their best to roll it down, more and more ordinary young people realize that with the consolidation of classes, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and the intensification of competition, their lives have long been locked.
According to a 2019 social survey in South Korea, 88.6% of young people surveyed believe that their parents' wealth and status determine their children's future, and that there is almost no hope of jumping up the class. Even if they try their best, they can't achieve the goals they have been thinking about since elementary school, and they can't even live the same life as their parents. Because the parents either have more opportunities, or they will not face such a high cost of living, and more importantly, the parents generally do not pay the price of borrowing to study in order to get ahead, there is no 70% undergraduate rate, and there is no high expectation and high desire of the younger generation.
Now, with the global recession and inflation, the situation of young South Koreans has become even worse. South Korea's exports shrank for the eighth consecutive month in May this year, with a deficit for 15 consecutive months. For South Korea, which is heavily dependent on imports and exports, the situation is quite serious, but on the other hand, the cost of living is still rising. In May, South Korea's jajangmyeon and pork belly rose 12.5 percent and 11.4 percent, the highest rate of food price hikes since May 1992. Korean white-collar workers who can't afford to eat in restaurants can only start bringing their own bento. In April 2023, 660,000 young people between the ages of 20 and 39 in South Korea were registered as "resting population" who do not work, do not take exams, do not seek employment, and do not have children. Many young people choose to "become monks", and the 150 temples in South Korea are overcrowded. In addition, there are some young people returning to their homeland, and the number of "kangaroo people" gnawing at the old is increasing.
When some of the most creative young people fall into confusion, do not buy a house, do not love people, do not have children, and are entertained to death, what value can they be expected to continue to contribute? In the face of the crisis, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has proposed to rebuild the middle class and restore class mobility. However, in front of him are the chaebols, who control the lifeblood of the national economy and are accustomed to enjoying class dividends, as well as the economic environment in South Korea that is not optimistic.
This is South Korea's problem, but it's not just South Korea's problem.
Source: Yonhap News Agency, The Paper APP, 36kr, etc
Editors: Zhang Tianyi, Zhang Wu Yuhui
Producer: Wang Junji
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