‘Corona catcher generation’… Daily young people falling behind in the job market

-Last year, when the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) crisis hit, the number of employed fell by about 220,000 from a year ago, the largest decline in 22 years since the financial crisis. While the stock and real estate markets are soaring, young people who have fallen out of the job market due to a cold wave of employment are declining to the’corona-wielding generation’.

According to the 2020 annual employment trend of the National Statistical Office on the 13th, the number of employed people last year was 26.9 million, down 218,000 from the previous year. After the financial crisis in 1998 (-1276,000 people), the decline was the largest. Yearly employment declined compared to the previous year in 11 years since 2009 (-87,000 people) during the global financial crisis.

Last year, the number of unemployed people increased by 45,000 to 1.18,000, the highest since 2000 when the counting standard was changed. The unemployment rate was also 4.0%, the highest since 2001 (4.0%). The number of inactive people who do not engage in economic activities such as employment increased by 455,000 from a year ago. The number of those who gave up job hunting was the largest (65,000) ever.

In particular, in the aftermath of Corona 19, the employment of young people who work a lot as daily workers in restaurants and wholesale and retail industries has greatly deteriorated. As companies even fewer new hires, the employment rate in their twenties last year fell to 55.7%, down 2.5 percentage points from a year ago. The decline was the largest among all age groups. The unemployment rate in the twenties also rose 0.1 percentage point, rising to the 9% level in two years after 2018 (9.5%). The perceived unemployment rate (expanded unemployment rate including both the unemployed and those who want to work and potential job seekers) among young people (ages 15 to 29) was the highest ever at 25.1%. Among the inactive population in their twenties, the number of people who answered that they were “resting” (415,000 people) did not do anything, increased 25.2% compared to the previous year. The increase is the highest among all age groups. It means that the number of young people who give up or do not have the opportunity to generate income amidst the difficulty in employment has increased.

Experts say that it is difficult to solve the youth employment problem with the government’s short-term job policy made with taxes. So-young Kim, professor of economics at Seoul National University, said, “It is not sustainable and cannot be a fundamental measure for the government to create jobs directly through taxation. It is important to create conditions for creating jobs in the private sector through labor structure reform.” .

Sejong = Reporter Joo Aejin [email protected]Go to reporter page>