A South Korean Study Shows That 3 Out Of 10 Young Job Seekers Are Struggling to Find Permanent Jobs
Young South Korean workers are finding it hard to get a permanent job leaving them stuck as temp workers for years and years.
The Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, together with The Chosun Ilbo conducted a study by following 920 out of the 4,000 30-year-old people who graduated from high school in 2004.
The Chosun Ilbo reported on Friday that they have found that three out of 10 young adults are struggling to find permanent jobs after entering the workforce 10 years ago as temp workers.
Out of the 920 subjects, 262 or 28.5 percent found a temp job after graduating. Of the 262, 69 or 26.3 percent are still currently working as temporary employees as of 2014.
Meanwhile, of the 658 high school graduates who have found a job as permanent employees, 61 or 9.3 percent of them now find themselves as temp workers.
Although 193 of the subjects who have started as temps eventually found permanent employment, the research's figures show that acquiring permanent employment is much of a struggle when they start of as temporary staff.
What is more alarming is that this trend is more observed in women at 30.1 percent than with men with 22.2 percent.
The Strait Times also noted on Friday that South Korean President Park Guen Hye is pushing labor reforms by encouraging companies to hire young and skilled workers, fire underperformers, reduce work hours and to provide wages based on employees performance.
"It's become normal for people in my generation to fail, even after writing applications to well over 100 companies," said 26-year-old Kim Yoon Sung. "The situation is just getting tougher."
Temporary employees moving in to permanent positions account to 84 percent for graduates of vocational colleges, high school graduates at 75 percent and 67 percent for graduates from universities.
"This shows that a high level of education does not always lead to permanent employment," said Shin Dong Joon of KRIVET. "It may not be the wisest decision to insist on graduating from a four-year university."
