For Koreans, job and money worries have multiplied

Youths hold up a sign that reads ”the government should provide jobs.”

Survey sees fourfold increase in employment worries among 15-24 year olds

South Koreans' economic and job worries have multiplied over the past several years, according to a survey.

Among those aged 15 to 24, the number of persons who count employment among their biggest worries showed a more-than-fourfold increase over the past four years. This means that three out of every 10 people are concerned about jobs, up from one out of 10 four years prior.

In addition, less than three South Koreans out of 10 were satisfied with their current life. More than one out of 10 had thought about killing themselves during the past year.

These are the results of a survey conducted in July by the National Statistics Office (NSO) and released on December 4. The NSO surveyed about 70,000 members of this age group from about 33,000 households.

According to the findings, 35.0 percent of the 15-to-24-year-old generation said that their biggest worry was their studies, while those who said that "occupation'' was their biggest concern soared to 29.6 percent this year from 6.9 percent in 2002. Those from low-income households worried more about jobs than did their counterparts.

About 33.5 percent of this age group wanted to work in the civil service sector, followed by 17.1 percent that hoped to work for a large company, 15.4 percent that leaned toward professional companies, and 11.0 percent seeking work at public firms. These results indicate that about half of the respondents hoped for a stable job, such as in government or a public firm.

An NSO official said that the increase in this age group's job worries directly reflects a greater difficulty faced in finding employment.

Those content with their current situation amounted to 28.9 percent out of all respondents, an increase of 8.5 percentage points from 2003. About 32.3 percent were dissatisfied with their lives, 4 percentage points higher than 2003.

Those who responded that they were doing neither bad nor good dropped by 12.5 percentage points, reflecting an increased polarization of personal situation into either "good" or "bad."

In terms of perception of economic class, fewer Koreans think they belong to the middle class than three years ago, feeling pushed down to the lower class.

About 10.3 percent of respondents considered suicide during the past year, with nearly 48.2 percent of the reasons being economic ones. Of those that considered taking their own lives, 15.8 percent were from households whose income was less than 1 million won (US$1,000) a month.

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