Young jobseekers look at employment information at a job fair in Goyang, north of Seoul, on Oct. 7, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Young South Koreans are more worried about the country’s lack of jobs than young people in any other country, a survey showed Tuesday.
The Korean National Commission for UNESCO conducted a survey of 1,000 people between the ages of 19 and 34, 34 percent of whom picked ‘lack of quality jobs and opportunities’ as the most pressing global issue by the year 2030.
Compared with a previous survey conducted with 15,000 participants worldwide last year, concern over jobs has gone up by 6 percentage points.
Sorted by gender, responses from women were slightly higher (53 percent) than their male counterparts (47 percent).
As for ways to resolve the shortage of jobs, 31 percent picked ‘ensuring gender equality in wages and employment opportunities,’ indicating that young South Koreans are highly concerned about gender discrimination in employment and wages.
More than two thirds of respondents overseas picked ‘guaranteeing access to quality education for all’ as the best way to resolve the shortage of jobs.
One quarter of young South Koreans were worried about the rise of AI and new technology, which was 11 percentage points higher than the response from those overseas (15 percent).
As for the reason, 35 percent of South Koreans said the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and new technology is making it more difficult for job seekers to find suitable jobs, viewing the issue from an employment perspective.
In contrast, 53 percent of foreign respondents picked ‘issues related to online privacy and security’ as the most likely problem to be posed by AI and new technology.
“South Koreans are more worried about employment than any other country in the world,” said Park Myoung-kyu, a sociology professor at Seoul National University, who spearheaded the research. “It seems to reflect the ongoing employment crisis in the country.”
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
