The number of employed individuals in their 20s in South Korea has declined at the steepest rate since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. This trend coincides with a general shift towards later entry into the labor market.
The significant drop in employment for young adults in South Korea, particularly the fall below a 60% employment rate for the first time in five years, signals potential challenges for the younger generation's economic integration and could impact future labor force dynamics and consumption patterns.
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- The number of employed individuals in South Korea's 20s demographic has seen its sharpest decline since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, according to data released Sunday. The average number of employed people in their 20s between January and August 2026 was 3.38 million, a decrease of 193,000 compared to the same period in the previous year. This marks the steepest fall since 1998, when employment in this age group plunged by 550,000 in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
The decline in employment was more significant than the reduction in the overall population of this age group, which fell by 3.5 percent year-on-year to an average of 5.55 million. Consequently, the employment rate for those in their 20s dropped by 1.3 percentage points to 59.1 percent, falling below the 60 percent threshold for the first time in five years.
In contrast, the employment situation for individuals in their 30s showed improvement. Their population increased by 83,000 year-on-year to 6.94 million, while the number of employed individuals in this group rose by 103,000 to 5.6 million. This led to an increase in their employment rate to 80.9 percent, continuing an upward trend for the fifth consecutive year since 2022.
Analysts suggest that these diverging employment trends may be partly attributed to a growing tendency for younger people to enter the labor market at a later age.