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'Resting' young people have cost Korea $38.3B since 2019, report claims

Published: 18 Aug. 2025, 17:32 Updated: 18 Aug. 2025, 19:33

A student reads job notices posted on a bulletin board on a university campus on Dec. 29, 2021. [NEWS1]

Young Koreans who are neither working nor seeking jobs — for no clear reason, such as school or child care — have cost the economy an estimated 53 trillion won ($38.3 billion) in the past five years, according to a new report.

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) published a report Thursday estimating the “economic costs of idle youth,” defined in official statistics as young people who responded that they were “just resting” without engaging in work or job-seeking. The study found that between 2019 and 2023, the total cost amounted to 53.4 trillion won. The Korean word for “youth” refers to people in their 20s and 30s.

The estimate was calculated by combining the number of idle young people with their expected wages and employers' Social Security contributions.

Statistics Korea’s survey on economically active populations shows that the number of idle young people rose from 432,000 in 2019 to 481,000 last year. The estimated monthly wage per person increased from 1.55 million won in 2019 to 1.79 million won in 2023.

FKI attributed the rise not only to the overall increase in numbers but also to a higher proportion of highly educated young people. The number with a college degree grew from 159,000 in 2019 to 184,000 in 2023, with their share increasing from 36.8 percent to 38.3 percent. The report suggested that more educated young people are delaying employment decisions based on economic and labor market conditions.

As countermeasures, FKI proposed the early identification of idle young people and improving social perceptions of them, customized employment policies by education level, stronger cooperation and information-sharing systems among governments, schools and welfare institutions and expanded psychological and recovery support programs.

“Last month, the number of idle youth reached a record high for July at 421,000 among those in their 20s, underscoring the deepening youth employment crisis,” said Lee Sang-ho, head of the FKI’s economic and industrial division. “We must boost corporate vitality to create new jobs and establish tailored support policies.”

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.
BY KIM KI-HWAN [[email protected]]