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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 28, 2024

Economy

Economically inactive youth, soaring prices dog Korea

  • PUBLISHED :March 21, 2017 - 17:45
  • UPDATED :March 21, 2017 - 17:45
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[THE INVESTOR] The number of South Korean youths choosing to stay out of the job market is surging, reflecting a worsening job market and workforce quality, data showed on March 21.

Statistics Korea said the number of economically inactive young people, who are neither employed nor unemployed, but are taking time off for various reasons, hit a four-year high in February.




Those aged 15-29 who did not seek employment rose to 362,000 last month, gaining 11,600 from the previous month, according to data. It is the highest figure since February 2013.

Such economically inactive youths are not included in the official data of the labor market. The official number of unemployed hit a 17-year high of 1.35 million in February.

The increase in the number of youths outside the job market comes in light of the country’s major companies having recently scaled down their recruitment size, signaling the labor market will aggravate further down the road.

Observers say the recent downsizing trend could also have discouraged youths who have been on a job hunt for several years to completely give up job searching, and eventually pull down the quality of Korea’s young labor force.

“For a few more years, the population of the youths will grow and more youths could give up job searching. If this continues to occur, they will lose opportunities to learn important job skills,” said Lee Geun-tae, economist at the LG Economic Research Institute.

“After 2020, the youth population will rapidly shrink again. At that time, how well young Koreans are prepared for future industries with good skills will decide the nation’s economic power. This is really worrisome.”

Meanwhile, weighing further down on households were soaring prices of major daily necessity items, adding to the already grim economic outlook of low growth, excessive household debt and rigid consumer sentiment

While prices of fresh foods such as eggs, chicken and white radish have increased since late last year, gasoline, flight tickets and cosmetics products recently joined the rising trend.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., eggs sold in retail stores at 7,299 won ($6.50) per 30 eggs as of May 20, up 30 percent from a year earlier, due to a supply shortage sparked by bird flu. White radish rose 69 percent from a year earlier, and cabbage, 76 percent.

Beauty products such as perfume, moisturizer and eyeliner increased 1.5-6 percent in February from a year earlier, while budget air carriers saw 5-11 percent hikes in their domestic flight tickets during the same period. Asiana Airlines is to raise fares on Jeju Island-bound flights by 5 percent from April 18.

Transportation fees, encompassing bus, train and subway, also went up 6 percent in February from a year earlier, the fastest growth since 6.3 percent on-year gain in February 2011, according to Statistics Korea. 

By Kim Yoon-mi/The Korea Herald (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)








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