By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
Young female job seekers are doing better than their male counterparts these days in the tight job market. More women in their 20s are joining the labor force to earn money, while delaying marriage and childbirth amid the ongoing economic downturn.
According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) Wednesday, the ratio of female workers in their 20s to the female population aged 20-29 came to 57.6 percent in March, higher than the 56.2 percent for young males. March marks the fourth consecutive month for the employment rate among women in their 20s to exceed that of young men.
``A growing number of young women have decided to delay marriage and childbirth and became economically active over the past few months to help improve worsening family finances as a result of slower income growth and falling asset values, pushing up the employment rate among women in their 20s,'' an NSO official said.
He also said the rates are higher for women than men because the former tend to lower their expectations in getting a job, while the latter would rather remain unemployed and keep looking for office jobs and other similar work.
The employment rate among young women has shown an upward curve over the years, as more females choose work over marriage. Many married women also continue to work even after raising a family.
Additionally, an increasing number of female university graduates excel at a range of recruitment tests, outdoing their male counterparts and pushing up the female job rate.
But a greater portion of males are employed than females in other age brackets, according to the statistical office. The employment rate among men in their 30s stood at 89 percent in March, much higher than 52.1 percent for female 30-somethings. Among people aged 40 to 60, more men participated in economic activities than women.
The nation's job market is currently in its worst shape since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, when a large number of workers lost their jobs following massive corporate layoffs.
Last month, 195,000 more jobs disappeared from the same month of the previous year after net slides of 142,000 in February, 103,000 in January and 12,000 in December, marking the highest year-on-year job loss since March 1999, when the country lost 390,000 positions.
Korea's job market conditions are expected to worsen further in the foreseeable future, with ongoing corporate downsizing entering full swing.