Youth Employment Drops by 210,000 as Job Growth Centers on Seniors, Widening Labor Market Polarization

The number of employed people in South Korea increased for the third consecutive month in August, but job growth continues to center on the senior population, exposing a widening polarization in the labor market. Employment opportunities for young people and within the manufacturing and construction sectors remain notably weak.

According to “August Employment Trends” released by Statistics Korea on September 10, last month’s total number of employed people reached 28,967,000, up by 166,000 from the same period a year ago. However, this increment was slightly lower than June’s 183,000 and July’s 171,000.

Since the start of this year, except for May, monthly employment growth has stayed within the range of 100,000, reflecting a slower pace of job creation.

By industry, manufacturing employment fell by 61,000 year-on-year, marking the 14th consecutive month of decline. The construction sector lost 132,000 jobs, continuing a 16-month downward trajectory. Statistics Korea cited sluggish domestic construction activity and negative impacts from U.S.-originated tariffs as factors stalling a recovery in these industries’ employment situations.

A look at employment by age shows a steep contrast: While the number of employed people aged 60 and over grew by 401,000, the youth demographic (ages 15–29) suffered a sharp decrease of 219,000. Employment for people in their 40s and 50s also fell by 73,000 and 38,000, respectively. The youth employment rate dropped by 1.6 percentage points to 45.1%, marking the 16th straight month of decline.

Mi-sook Gong, Director General of Social Statistics at Statistics Korea, commented, “The ongoing preference for hiring experienced workers and the trend towards rolling recruitment among companies are creating a less favorable employment environment for young people.”

From the perspective of employment types, the number of regular employees increased by 348,000, whereas daily workers declined by 67,000. Non-wage workers—including the self-employed and unpaid family workers—fell by 103,000.

The overall employment rate for people aged 15 and above edged up 0.1 percentage point to 63.3%. The employment rate under the OECD’s comparison standard (ages 15–64) likewise increased by 0.1 point to 69.9%.

The number of unemployed people stood at 592,000, a decrease of 28,000 from a year earlier, driving the unemployment rate down to 2.0%. Altogether, the economically active population—including both the employed and unemployed—rose by 194,000 to 29,559,000.

Meanwhile, the economically inactive population rose slightly to 16.22 million. Of these, 2,641,000 people were neither working nor seeking employment—a category known as “rested,” which increased by 73,000 from a year ago. Notably, among those in their 30s, the “rested” group reached a record high of 328,000, marking the highest August figure on record.

Note “This article was translated from the original Korean version using AI assistance, and subsequently edited by a native-speaking journalist.”

Photo=Yonhap News Agency