South Korea’s youth unemployment rate rose to 7.5% in March, the highest for that month since 2021, when it surged to 10% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prolonged weakness in domestic demand and a slowdown in exports have hit industries like manufacturing and retail, where many young Koreans typically find work. The impact has been compounded by a shrinking population, with the number of employed youth falling by more than 200,000 for the fourth consecutive month.
According to Statistics Korea on April 9, the number of employed people in March was 28.589 million, up 193,000 from a year earlier. Most of the new jobs went to people in their 30s and 60s, marking the third consecutive month of gains exceeding 100,000. It was also the biggest increase since April last year. But jobs for young people continued to disappear. The number of employed youth aged 15 to 29 fell by 206,000, the fourth month in a row with a drop of over 200,000. Most of the losses came from manufacturing (down 112,000) and wholesale and retail (down 26,000)—sectors where many young Koreans work.
The number of young Koreans willing to work but unable to find jobs rose to 289,000 in March, the highest in two years. The youth unemployment rate climbed to 7.5%, the worst since June 2021, when it hit 8.9% at the peak of the pandemic. For March, it was the highest rate since 2021, when it reached 10%. The youth jobless rate was also 2.4 times higher than the overall unemployment rate of 3.1%.
The prolonged downturn in construction is also affecting middle-aged workers. Jobs among people in their 40s and 50s fell by 49,000 and 26,000, respectively. The sector lost a total of 185,000 jobs last month, driven by widespread restructuring across the industry.
More young people are stepping away from the labor market altogether. In March, 2.517 million South Koreans were not working or looking for a job, up 71,000 from a year earlier. Among them, 455,000 were young people, an increase of 52,000—the highest March figure since records began in 2003. In the first quarter, the average number of young people who were “resting” reached 464,000, surpassing the previous peak of 461,000 in the second quarter of 2020, when the pandemic began.
