As manufacturing jobs shrink, young people left behind in Korea’s changing labor market
Korea’s labor market is shifting as manufacturing employment shrinks, health care expands and workers 60 and older outnumber younger people in regular jobs for the first time.
Job seekers read notices on positions at a job fair held at a venue in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 31.YONHAP
Manufacturing's share of total employment fell below 15 percent for the first time since 2013, according to Ministry of Data and Statistics data released on Sunday.
The sector employed 4.3 million people as of last May, accounting for 14.7 percent of the country's 29.12 million workers.
The share of employees hired into manufacturing jobs has declined by 2.6 percentage points over the past decade, from 17.3 percent in May 2016.
Manufacturing remains the country's largest employer among the 21 major industry categories under the Korean Standard Industrial Classification. However, the number of manufacturing workers has fallen year-on-year for 23 consecutive months.
Even the semiconductor boom has done little to reverse the falling trend because the semiconductor industry has a relatively limited employment multiplier effect and accounts for only about 4 percent of all wage-paying jobs.
Employment in the health care and social welfare sector, on the other hand, has continued to expand. Workers in health care and social welfare services accounted for 11.9 percent of total employment in May, up from 7.1 percent in May 2016.
The sector has grown alongside rapidly rising demand driven by an aging population. However, the sector employs a disproportionately large number of older workers.
The shift in age in the job market is noticeable in other sectors as well.
The number of workers aged 60 and older holding regular jobs — positions with contracts of at least one year that are generally considered the most stable form of employment — reached 2.2 million in May, surpassing the 2.1 million workers aged 15 to 29 in the same category.
It was the first time workers aged 60 and over outnumbered young workers aged 15 to 29 in regular employment since the data series began in 2014.
Job applicants line up to apply for jobs at the Mapo Senior Job Fair held at the Mapo District Office in western Seoul on Dec. 10, 2025.YONHAP
The number of young people in regular jobs has declined for four consecutive years since May 2022, when it stood at 2.6 million. By contrast, the number of older workers in regular employment has increased every year since 2019, with some years seeing increases of more than 200,000.
The diverging trends reflect broader changes in the labor market. As companies increasingly favor experienced hires, it has become more difficult for young people to secure stable jobs.
At the same time, more older Koreans are reentering the workforce, widening the employment gap between the two generations.
"Young people are facing a triple challenge stemming from demographic and industrial restructuring, the expansion of rolling recruitment and external uncertainties," a Ministry of Finance and Economy official said. "We will make every effort to turn the situation around."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
