Young Korean men lose ground in labor market with steepest OECD decline in last 20 years

The footing of young men in Korea's labor market is slipping, posting the steepest decline among member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over the past two decades.

An analysis shared by The Bank of Korea’s (BOK) research department on Tuesday cited multiple pressures for the diminishing economic participation by young men, including the greater number of highly educated women, advances in AI and the rise in the retirement age.

The economic activity participation rate of Korean men aged 25 to 34 last year was 82.3 percent, a 7.6 percent drop from 2000 and far below the OECD average of 90.6 percent in 2024.

This contrasts with Korean women, whose participation rate reached 77.1 percent, slightly above the OECD average of 76.3 percent.

The researchers attributed the decline to a sharp rise in the number of men who voluntarily remain “inactive,” meaning they are neither seeking jobs nor employed.

By education level, highly educated young men were more likely to face stiff competition in the labor market.

A cohort analysis found that men born between 1991 and 1995 who graduated from four-year universities saw a 15.7 percentage point drop in the likelihood of economic participation compared to those born between 1961 and 1970.

In contrast, the likelihood of women with four-year degrees participating in the labor force rose by 10.1 percentage points.

This shift reflects the rapid increase in women’s participation in professional and clerical occupations.

Last year, they were almost as equally represented as men in professional roles, such as lawyers and accountants.

In clerical jobs, the share of women surpassed that of men. In such jobs, there were 1.13 women for every man. 

Young men with a two-year college degree or lower educational attainment were found to be the most susceptible to intensifying competition in the job market.

While mid- and low-skilled job availability in manufacturing and construction — fields where these men were heavily employed in the past — has declined, women have found more jobs in service sectors, such as health care and social welfare.

There are also several factors undermining youth employment regardless of gender.

Since the launch of ChatGPT over four years ago, the number of jobs available for those aged 15 to 29 has declined by 255,000, according to a combined figure by the National Pension Service and a 2021 study on AI exposure by Edward Felten, a professor of computer science and public affairs at Princeton University.

Between 2004 and last year, the employment rate of older experienced workers surged by 12.3 percentage points, with most of their positions concentrated in high-skilled positions.

“The rising number of older workers has led companies to scale back the hiring of younger people,” the BOK research department said. “As a result, entry pathways into the labor market for younger generations have narrowed.”

Yet the researchers noted that the phenomenon should not be interpreted as a “zero-sum” game between men and women.

“The higher female presence in the work force contributes positively to productivity, which also improves their job matching efficiency in the labor market,” said BOK researcher Yun Jin-yeong.

“However, the intensifying competition across genders and generations is making it more difficult for young people to enter the labor market, which calls for careful policy consideration.”

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 OH HYO-JEONG [[email protected]]