Economic toll of ‘resting’ young people deepens

A woman surnamed Paik says her heart breaks to see her son, who is in his late 30s and has a master’s degree, give up on finding employment after quitting several jobs due to a poor job fit, low salaries and other reasons.

“He's wasted almost his entire 30s at home, years that could have been financially productive if he had been working,” said Paik, who asked to be identified only by her surname.

When asked whether her son felt any pressure to find a job by comparing himself with his schoolmates, Paik said that some of them had also stopped trying, which only reinforced his decision to remain idle.

The grim reality facing Paik’s son and his peers is reflected in the rising number of Koreans in their 20s and 30s who have given up looking for work long-term instead of building careers and advancing financially.

These Koreans are categorized as “resting” individuals, separate from unemployed people — those who are willing to work but have no jobs — who are still considered “economically active.” Resting individuals are also distinguished from people whose careers are on hold because they are pursuing academic paths, engaged in child care or other household activities, or are unable to work due to illness.

According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, the number of Koreans in their 20s and 30s who were resting reached a record high of 736,000 in October. Of the total, 402,000 are in their 20s and the remaining 334,000 are in their 30s.

“The trend is concerning, especially given that they are not even considered economically active, which can result in misleading job data,” said Shin Se-don, professor emeritus of economics at Sookmyung Women’s University.

He noted that unemployment statistics only count unemployed people who are economically active, describing the unemployment situation as “grave in nature,” even though it appears to be improving statistically.

The unemployment rate in October was 2.2 percent, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier. However, the number of long-term unemployed people in their 20s and 30s — those not employed but actively seeking work for more than six months — stood at 35,000, the highest level since the 36,000 recorded in September 2024.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor pointed to a growing “job mismatch” as a significant cause for the rise in long-term unemployment, noting that young people with college degrees or higher struggle to find suitable positions while large companies cut back on hiring.

The ministry reported that businesses nationwide failed to fill a total of 108,000 available positions in the first quarter despite active recruitment efforts.

Companies pointed to two key factors behind the unfilled positions: the lack of suitably experienced applicants, which accounted for 25.6 percent of the reason for failing to hire, and working conditions and salary levels that were below job seekers’ expectations, which accounted for 20.6 percent.

In a related finding, a study commissioned by the Federation of Korean Industries estimated that resting young people cost the economy 44.5 trillion won ($30.25 billion) between 2019 and 2023. The figure refers to the missed economic value when assuming those individuals would have collected a monthly wage equivalent to 80 percent of that of their employed peers — an amount that grew from 1.55 million won in 2019 to 1.79 million won in 2023.