▲ Jobseekers visit a job festival in Seoul, in this Dec. 2, 2025, file photo. (Yonhap)

youth-employment

Employment rate among youths falls for 1st time in 5 yrs in 2025: data

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- The employment rate for people in their 20s fell in 2025 for the first time in five years as a shrinking population and a weak job market weighed on hiring, data showed Sunday.

The employment rate for people in their 20s stood at 60.2 percent last year, down 0.8 percentage point from a year earlier, according to data released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics. It was the first on-year decline since 2020, when hiring slumped amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of employed people in their 20s totaled 3.44 million last year, down 170,000 from a year earlier. The decline has continued for three straight years and has been accelerating, widening from a drop of 82,000 in 2023 to 124,000 in 2024.

The population decline has been cited as a key factor as the number of people in this age group has fallen for five consecutive years since 2021.

But employment in the age bracket declined at a steeper pace than the population decrease, suggesting broader weakness in the labor market.

"In the past, many people found jobs in their 20s, but there is now a growing tendency for people to wait until their 30s in search of better opportunities," said Yang Jun-seok, a professor of economics at the Catholic University of Korea.

Separate data by the ministry showed that jobs at large conglomerates totaled 4.43 million in 2024, up 17,000 from a year earlier.

But the share of jobs being held by the same workers rose 0.8 percentage point to 84.4 percent, pointing to limited job mobility.

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