The average expected age of marriage for men and women was 34.8 years and 33.5 years, respectively. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — While single men and women picked civil servant or public corporation worker as the most favored occupation for their spouse, the preference for teachers has risen significantly when it comes to jobs for husbands.
According to a survey conducted by DUO, a South Korean matchmaking firm, among 1,000 unmarried men and women aged between 25 and 39, 12.7 percent of men and 12.5 percent of women chose public official or public corporation worker, ranking first among preferred occupation for their spouse.
Civil servant has been the top job over the past 16 years for men, and six years for women female.
Working for the government was followed by general office worker and teacher in second and third places, respectively, for both men and women.
In particular, the number of female respondents who preferred their spouse to be a teacher jumped from seventh place (6 percent) last year to third (7.6 percent) this year.
“The fact that the first and third most favored jobs are public jobs reflects the idea of single men and women who want a spouse who is economically stable in an era of low growth and low interest rates,” a Duo official said.
Other men wanted their wife to have a job in finance, accounting for 6.8 percent, or wanted a wife who was an accountant, lawyer, or tax office worker, accounted for 5.3 percent, or designer, accounting for 5.3 percent.
On the other hand, 6.6 percent of women chose a job in the finance industry. This was followed by 6.6 percent choosing professor, and 5.9 percent choosing accountant, lawyer, or tax office worker.
The average expected age of marriage for men and women was 34.8 years and 33.5 years, respectively.
The figure was 1.6 years and 3.1 years higher than the average first marriage age announced by Statistics Korea, which was 33.2 years for men and 30.4 years for women as of 2018.
Furthermore, the opinion among respondents agreeing that “marriage is a must” accounted for 34.7 percent, which was similar to “marriage is a choice, not a must,” which accounted for 34.6 percent.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
