Mr. Kim Young-jae (32) had been a ‘resting’ youth for the past six years before getting a job last month at a fire-protection equipment installation firm. It is a four-month short-term contract. Jobs marked by unstable employment arrangements and poor treatment have dampened Kim’s motivation to seek work. The solar panel installation company where he worked for a year and a half before his ‘resting’ period abruptly notified him of dismissal. He later received a job offer from another place, but job sites were filled with negative reviews of that company alleging wage arrears and ‘gapjil’ (abuse of power).

Kim said, “There are many high-spec engineering graduates in AI and semiconductor fields, so even if we receive vocational training, I doubt companies will hire us,” adding, “Short-term jobs that involve only simple clerical work do not help a long-term career at all.”

Amid such an acute job crunch, the government has decided to create training programs in advanced industries such as artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors for 10,000 people. It plans to increase public-sector jobs and, by supporting the return of discouraged young job seekers to the labor market, provide practical employment opportunities to about 100,000 youths. However, ‘resting youth’ said in unison that vocational training and offering public and private jobs in select fields alone will not solve the fundamental problems.

On the 29th, the government held a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Koo Yoon-cheol and announced plans to promote a Youth New Deal.

First, the government will newly establish a 10,000-person vocational training program designed and run by the private sector, the ‘K-New Deal Academy,’ to provide education in advanced industries such as AI and semiconductors and in occupations favored by youth, linking completion to post-program employment support. It will also widen public job opportunities by expanding personnel for managing arrears in national taxes and the public sector and by running work-experience projects centered on social enterprises and welfare facilities. The target group for the National Employment Support Program has been expanded so that even young people with no prior work experience can receive job-seeking promotion allowances.

However, questions are being raised as to whether the measures announced that day can actually ease young people’s employment insecurity.

In fact, while the number of ‘high-spec’ graduates is increasing, the job crunch is worsening. The university education attainment rate among those aged 25-34 compiled by the OECD rose from 60.6% in 2009 to 70.6% last year. In contrast, new hires accounted for only 2.7% of employment in the first half of this year (Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry data).

Factors such as AI-driven job replacement are also reducing labor demand, creating another barrier. The employment inducement coefficient, which converts the number of employed persons relative to industrial demand, fell into single digits for the first time in 2020 (9.7 people) and dropped further to 8.4 last year.

A system focused on college entrance examinations that provides few opportunities for career exploration is also cited as a problem. Mr. Seong-mo (31), who has done only intermittent part-time work for nine years since graduating from university in 2016, said, “There was no way at school to learn what I like or what kind of work suits me.”

The government has decided to expand the ‘Youth Future Center,’ which prevents the social isolation of ‘resting’ youths who have not engaged in job seeking for an extended period and helps them regain daily routines, from the current four locations to 17. However, observers say a more integrated support system is needed to enhance policy effectiveness.

Lee Sol-ji, a professor in the Department of Social Welfare at Dongmyung University, said, “The problem starts with limited career exploration education. We need countermeasures for fundamental issues such as the employment and education systems,” adding, “A control tower is needed to integrate and manage policies for ‘resting’ youth.”