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| A man looks at job postings at a job fair held in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, in this 2019 file photo. Newsis |
By Lee Yeon-woo
Almost half a million young people between the ages of 15 and 29 were economically inactive without searching for or preparing to get a job last month, data showed. The number of young people taking time off has been increasing each year as more give up looking for work.
According to the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) data provided by Statistics Korea, some 497,000 young people reported in February that they are taking time off. That is the highest figure for any month the statistics agency has recorded in the 20 years since 2003 it has been compiling the data.
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People who just took time off are included in the economically inactive population, which is defined as those aged over 15 who are neither employed nor unemployed. They are different from the unemployed ― those who have actively sought employment for the past four weeks but were unable to find a job.
This economically inactive group is divided further into subcategories, such as those who are engaged in child-rearing, housework and education or those who could not work due to old age, physical or mental disabilities, as well as for other reasons. Taking time off falls under the category of "other reasons."
The statistics agency sometimes looks deeper into this category of "other reasons," surveying why those people took time off. In data released last August, 39.4 percent of respondents cited poor health as the reason for their inactivity, while 18.1 percent said it was difficult to find the jobs they wanted.
In a previous interview with The Korea Times, Park Eun-mi, co-representative of NEET People, commented on the various factors that lead young people to become economically inactive. She pointed out that as young people face fierce competition in the job market and struggle to get employment, some of them end up suffering loss of vitality due to the profound impact on their mental and psychological well-being.
The number of young people who are employed stood at 3.85 million as of February, which is a decrease of 125,000 compared to the previous year.
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