The Korean millennial generation minds whether they like the line of work or not more than what it pays and less of it being permanent.

According to a survey released by local job portal provider Jobkorea on Tuesday, 36.7 percent of 1,002 jobseekers aged from 19 to 37 responded they were willing to accept a job offer even if the position was not permanent and another 3.9 percent said they preferred to work as a contract worker or freelancer. The other 59.4 percent replied they were looking for a permanent job.

Millennials in Korea are referred as the “hopeless generation” born at the height of the country’s near-default crisis of late 1990s and educated during the global crisis of 2008-2009 who now face fierce competition in the job market at its worst since the crisis-hit period. They put off starting a family due to poor security and high living cost.

The type of work is what they prize most in seeking job (28.0 percent), followed by salary (27.9 percent), job security, or whether it is a permanent position or not (13.4 percent), and location (12.6 percent), industry category (8.1 percent), and the company’s size and name value (6.5 percent).

The largest 28.9 percent was happy to land a job with a mid-sized company employing 100 to 299, 24.6 percent a company of 300 to 499 employees, and 20.1 percent of 50 to 99 employees. Only 10.2 percent hoped to work for a large company with 1,000 or more on the payroll.

Services sector such as food, hotels, and airliners was favored by females (20.6 percent), while IT and telecommunications was the top choice for males (16.5 percent.)

By Lee Jae-cheol and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]