Middle-aged job seekers fill out résumés at a job fair for older people at the plaza of Hwaseong Haenggung in Paldal District, Suwon, Gyeonggi, on April 29.NEWS1
Koreans in their 40s are losing their footing in the job market, squeezed out of support programs built for young job seekers while still too young for those aimed at older workers.
The number of people employed in their 40s fell by 17,000 in August compared to a year earlier, even as overall employment rose, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. People in their 40s and their 20s, down 164,000, were the only age groups to post declines, while employment among those in their 40s has fallen for eight straight months this year.
The age group’s population has shrunk, but slumps in manufacturing, construction and other industries that depend on domestic demand, which employ many people in their 40s, have played a part, as has corporate restructuring and early retirement.
“I built up unusual experience and connections, from teaching Korean in Ecuador to handling customer service for a travel e-commerce company in Malaysia, but it has turned into experience that counts for nothing in the jobs I want,” An Si-young, a 39-year-old job-seeker, said. “Neither government-backed jobs for young people nor jobs for middle-aged people seem to be meant for someone like me right now.”
An, who turns 40 next year, went to a job fair for middle-aged job seekers at Seoul’s regional employment and labor office on Sept. 29, since support aimed at young people has become hard to get. An graduated from a four-year university in Korea, studied in the United States and earned a master’s degree from a university in China, but finding work in Korea has not been easy. That day’s interview, too, left An feeling deflated.
“When our company ran into trouble, it pushed out the high-paid researchers first,” said a 48-year-old semiconductor engineer surnamed Choi, who left a small company in May. “My field, analyzing chip defects, is so specialized that there were never many openings to begin with. My experience is too valuable to throw away on something completely different, like driving a taxi, and the problem is that I’m young in an awkward way.”
“Maybe because of my previous salary, I keep getting rejected at the application stage, but the pay is negotiable, so I would at least like an interview,” Choi said. “I would like a shot at hiring-linked training or an internship, the way young people get.”
Job seekers look over job postings at a hiring fair for middle-aged people at the Seoul 50 Plus Eastern Campus in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, on Aug. 26.YONHAP
The National Assembly Futures Institute highlighted the trend in a recent report on middle-aged people who are “just resting.” The share of economically inactive people in their 40s who neither work nor look for work for no particular reason rose from 11.5 percent in 2010 to 19 percent last year, up 7.5 percentage points over 15 years.
A shortage of jobs was the main factor sapping the will to look for work. The share of people in their 40s who said they were resting because finding a job was difficult rose 15.2 percentage points, from 23.1 percent in 2018 to 38.3 percent last year.
“If unemployment in middle age drags on, the gap in income and the break in a career can lead to poverty in old age,” Jeon Jeong-eun, a researcher at the institute, said. “There needs to be a policy response so that people can return to the labor market early.”
The spread of AI is deepening the insecurity.
“Since the company began adopting AI in earnest, it stopped giving me almost any development work,” said a 43-year-old who moved from a large company to the IT division of a commercial bank. “I am getting older, and my two children are young, so changing jobs is not easy, but it feels like silent pressure to quit, and I am anxious every day.”
A job-seeker fills out a résumé at a hiring fair for middle-aged people at the Guro District Office in western Seoul, on June 16.YONHAP
Last year, 57.4 percent of employed people in their 40s said they felt insecure about their jobs, the highest share among people aged 40 to 64, according to a survey by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Early exits from career jobs are adding to the anxiety. People aged 55 to 64 left the job they had held longest at an average age of 49, according to the ministry’s May survey of older people. That was down from 49.2 a year earlier.
Job seekers in their 40s whom the JoongAng Ilbo met shared a common complaint — they are caught in between, neither young nor old. Because they fall into the blind spots of employment support, finding a suitable job takes them more effort.
“I have worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative, a cram school instructor and a hotel front desk clerk for at least two years each, but I quit because I did not feel like doing any of them for more than 10 years,” Jeong Ha-seok, aged 43, said. “Compared to someone who has built a career in one field, my résumé may look thin, but in the long run, is this not still an age to take on more challenges?”
Job seekers look over a job board at a hiring fair for middle-aged people at the Seoul 50 Plus Eastern Campus in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, on Aug. 26.YONHAP
A breadwinner in their 40s who suddenly loses a job at the height of working life can feel a deeper sense of relative deprivation and despair, because spending and debt peak at that age.
Among borrowers in their 40s, 34 percent spent 40 percent or more of their income on principal and interest payments in the second quarter of this year, the highest share of any age group, according to data the Bank of Korea submitted to Rep. Kim Nam-joon of the Democratic Party. Their average loan balance, 124.22 million won ($93,200), also topped every other age group.
“I planned to go to the hair salon once I was making 500,000 won a month, but I could not get a haircut for six months,” Jeong Ji-won, aged 41, said. “The pressure that people in their 40s must not fail is so heavy that I went through depression.”
Jeong Ji-won, an ordinary office worker for 14 years, resigned in May last year after neglecting family life brought their marriage to the brink of divorce. When the spouse’s company then closed, Jeong began making goods and selling them online, at least to cover cram school fees for their son, an elementary school student. Last month, Jeong published a book about a 40-something who quit a job and searched for a way to survive.
“In an era when lifetime employment has disappeared, I wanted to share my trial and error with people who are afraid both to stay at their companies and to leave them,” Jeong said.
Experts warn that job insecurity among people in their 40s, the core of the working-age population, should not be left unaddressed.
“Japanese companies hold career workshops at each life transition, giving employees a chance to consider whether to keep a low profile and stay on for the long haul or to prepare for a job change, and in France, employers are legally required to help with career planning,” Lee Young-min, a professor of public administration at Sookmyung Women’s University, said.
“Korea should also introduce a national career-management doctor system so that people can regularly receive hyper-personalized career management services, much like health checkups.”
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.
