Nearly 500,000 young people aged between 15 and 29 said they “took a break” in terms of economic activities last month, the largest since related data was first compiled in January 2003.

According to the Korea Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) of Statistics Korea on Monday, 497,000 youths in the economically inactive population who are neither employed nor unemployed said they paused their economic activity in February.

That was an increase from 386,000 in February 2019, 438,000 in February 2020, 449,000 in February 2021 and 453,000 in February 2022. It has risen 9.9 percent last year alone.

Those who have actively searched for jobs in the past four weeks and were ready for a job are classified as unemployed. The economically inactive population aged 15 or older is categorized into different groups such as childcare, housework, school attendance, old age, mental and physical disabled and others according to activity status. “Paused” belongs to the others group, distinguished from preparing for employment and school or waiting for military enlistment. It literally means taking a break without looking for or preparing for a job.

According to Statistics Korea’s annual survey on the main reason for “pausing” in August last year, illness was 39.4 percent, followed by difficulty in finding a job or a desired job at 18.1 percent, retired at 17.3 percent, absence of jobs at 7.8 percent, in between jobs at 7.1 percent, job completion or contract expiry at 3.4 percent, workplace shutdown at 3.0 percent and others at 3.8 percent. Yet, this survey result includes those of all age groups and illness is likely to account for a lower portion among young people while difficulty finding a desired job is higher.

The number of people who gave up searching for jobs, which Statistics Korea compiles according to international standards, stood at 358,000 last month, down 155,000 from a year ago. It refers to those who had a job-seeking experience in the past year among the economically inactive population who wished to find a job and were ready for employment but did not due to reasons related to the labor market, a narrower category than those who have given up employment itself.

The number of young people employed was 3.853 million last month, down 125,000 from a year ago. It is the largest decline in two years since February 2021. The youth employment rate was 45.5 percent, down 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier and the first drop in two years since February 2021.

Those who paused economic activity in all age groups, in the meantime, rose to 2.635 million last month, an increase of 165,000 from a year ago and the largest number for February since data compilation. When including other months, it is the third largest after 2.715 million in January 2021 and 2.653 million in January this year.

By Pulse

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