By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Jobless growth has been one of the biggest concerns for President Lee Myung-bak and his administration, with the economy failing to churn out new jobs despite a faster-than-expected rebound.
The latest data on youth employment has added to the concern that this has become a structural problem for Asia's fourth-largest economy. The working population in their 20s has fallen to the lowest level in 30 years due to the sluggish job market and aging population.
According to Statistic Korea, Monday, the number of employed between 20 and 29 reached 3.7 million in the first three months of this year, the lowest tally since the fourth quarter of 1981, when 3.5 million were working.
The number of jobs available to the youth in the first quarter was even lower than those of 1998 and 1999, right after the currency crisis shook the country. The number of jobs during the crisis hovered around 4.4 million in 1998 and 4.34 million in 1999.
The proportion of 20-somethings among the population over 15 years old has suffered a drop-off for 19 straight years, sinking to 15.9 percent in the first three months - the first fall below 16 percent in the past 30 years.
Starting with a population of 6.32 million in their 20s in 1981, the number steadily grew to 7.91 million in 1995, but since then, the number has been going downhill, dropping to 6.5 million last year and 6.43 million in the first quarter of this year.
Analysts said that what is of concern is that this is not a passing phenomenon but a structural problem caused by rapid aging of the population and weakening economic vitality, which many believe will hamper the nation's economic growth potential
By age groups, people in their 40s led all generations, accounting for 27.9 percent of the population, followed by those in their 30s (25.1 percent), 50s (19.8 percent), 20s (16.1 percent) and over 60s (10.2 percent).
In 2008, right before the economic downturn, a total of 3.92 million people in their 20s were employed, but this dropped by 219,000 in 2010.