A recent report by the Korea Labour Institute reveals that over the past decade, fewer young unmarried South Koreans living with their parents express a desire to work.
The study analyzed data from 2015 to 2024, focusing on people aged 19 to 39 who are not actively looking for jobs. In 2015, 56.1% of these economically inactive youths living at home wanted to find work. By 2024, this number had dropped to 50%, showing a decline in the willingness to participate in the workforce.
The report also highlighted a significant rise in young people who want to work but believe they have little chance of finding a job. This group grew from 5,382 in 2015 to 175,000 in 2024.
Many cited reasons such as lack of work experience, education, or suitable job opportunities matching their backgrounds. Conversely, those who felt confident about job opportunities decreased from 79,643 to 14,882 during the same period.
Nearly 2.73 million young Koreans—about 77% of the economically inactive youth—reported no intention to seek employment in 2024. Around 20% expressed willingness to work but had not searched for jobs in the previous month.
The share of young people who believed they could work if offered a job dropped sharply from 54% in 2015 to 31% in 2024, a decline partly attributed to the impact of COVID-19.
Regarding reasons for economic inactivity, resting, education, and childcare were the most common. Notably, the percentage of youths engaged in childcare fell from 26.8% to 13.8%, while those resting doubled from 10.5% to 20%. The number attending school remained stable.
The report also noted that economic activity tends to stabilize after age 26. Many youths experience short-term jobs and repeated unemployment before their mid-20s. By age 25 or 26, they generally fall into two groups: one stabilizes in employment, while the other shifts toward long-term inactivity due to lack of experience.
The institute stressed the importance of understanding how long individuals remain inactive, warning that broad policies may not effectively address the decline in willingness to work among young Koreans.
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