Harsh Reality of South Korea Employment Rate In 2021!
In this article we will share to you the harsh reality of South Korea employment rate in 2021. Everyone knows that job market in south korea is really competitive and it’s not easy to get a good permanent job in south korea.
After Covid19 hit the globe, korea job employment currently decreasing and as the unemployment rate rising, the higher the competitive among koreans to get a job in south korea. Let’s see how’s the current employment condition in 2021.
Hard Truth of Unemployment
Back then in 2018, the unemployment rate for 15 to 29 years old reached one million, 10% of total youth population, which is huge by korean standard.
There was an article published on December 2020 titled “Understand why the unemployed commit suicide”. This article sparked discussion and argument about unemployment in south korea.
It is true that many youth are struggle to find a secure and permanent job, some of them even got rejected before having their first interview.
The unemployed korean usually isolated themselves from meeting with friends and other people as they felt like a failure and their confident just drop off the cliff.
in 2021 there are more than 600,000 unemployed koreans living in Korea with more than half of them are youth. The older generation push among the youth just makes their feeling even worse. Some older people usually condemn them by being lazy or not putting enough effort to get a job.
This resulted in 9 / 10 job seekers in south korea suffer depression and mental illness due to excessive stress. Some of them choose to end their suffering by commit suicide.
Youth (20-29) Unemployment Rate
According to Statistics Korea, the youth unemployment rate had fallen to 5.3% recently in September 2021.
If we take a look at the overall unemployment rate in South Korea in 2021, we find that it rose to 10% in February and drop down to 5.3% in September.
The Bank of Korea currently forecasts the annual unemployment rate might be drop as low as 3.9% for this year and 3.8% for next year.
However, note that these numbers do not include people who do any kind of part-time job. If we add people without a secure position, then the unemployment will be as high as 22% which means 1 of ever 5 youth koreans don’t have a secure employment.
Employment Standard
Most company would prefer to have younger people in their company, especially fresh graduates rather than experienced job seekers. Women graduate at 22 or 23, while men usually graduate at 25 or 26 due to military service.
Most college students try to get a job even before they graduate, they land lots of resume and CV as early as six months ahead of their graduation ceremony on February.
Most korean knew that south korea company prefer job seekers under 30 rather than experience and older job seekers as their standard salary are lower and physically stronger to do overwork.
This has been the considerations for those students who want to do working holiday abroad, such as Australia, New Zealand, or other places as it can have a real profound impact on their future career. Even if they plan to study abroad, if their age is beyond 30, it will be harder for them to get a secure job.
South Korean Workplaces
Korean prefer to be employed by the government due to it’s secure position and normal working hours. Many company in south korea demanded a crazy working hours which also creates a lot of stress among workers in south korea.
More and more college graduates are preparing themselves to work for government by preparing for Civil Servant Exam. However, as more people are interested in working in this areas, the competition also become higher. Most students spent their waking time study and prepare for exam rather than play and do something else.
Only 3 percent of the people pass the civil servant exam, while the remaining 97 percent can choose to try the exam next year or give up and try something else.
Many korean seeking for a full time permanent employment in a company, yet they must pass the process of internship for 6 to 12 months before company can decide if they are worthy to get a permanent position in their company.
Lots of internship ended up getting fired after the contract and so they seek another internship at another company.
This cause a lot of stress for korean, as they only receive less salary and they worry if they will be an eternal Interns. This term refer to someone who always working as internship in various company.
Job Search Difficulties in Korea
Last year in second half of 2020, Saramin (사람인), platform for job searching in korea, surveyed 177 companies to find out the competition rate for their job listings was about 20:1 and this year is up to 36:1 in averages.
Exceptions for the attractive job positions, the competition rate was often over 100:1. This number shown how difficult it is to get a secure job in korea.
Educational Requirements
Many korean job seeker look more at the company brands rather than the spicific type of job when they apply for a position as they are looking for long term and secure career.
To get a job in South Korea, your university background is the most important factor. Many companies are not just looking at your skills and education background but also where you study. Other than that, they will prefer someone who have an additional skills like English language or Public Speaking.
Korea Employment
Hopefully the economy will be better and as more business are open, more youth will be able to get a job and so lesser the competition and the suicide rate among youth in south korea.
