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Employment for South Koreans in their 20s drops at fastest rate since 1998

morning · · thread: South Korea's Foreign Reserves See Record Monthly Increase in August

2 sources · South Korea · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • Yonhap South Korea · Centre · State-affiliated · Cooperative; statutory national agency with state subsidy
  • The Korea Herald South Korea · Centre-right · Herald Corporation (Yeongpoong Group)

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

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Every source for this story reports from South Korea.

Employment among people in their 20s in South Korea fell at the fastest pace this year since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. Data from the Korean Statistical Information Service shows that the number of employed people in their 20s averaged 3.38 million from January to August, which is a decrease of 193,000 compared to the same period last year. This decline is the steepest since 1998, when employment in that age group plunged by 550,000.

The drop in employment exceeded the decline in the population of that age group. While the population of people in their 20s fell 3.5 percent on year to an average of 5.55 million, the number of employed individuals dropped 5.6 percent. Consequently, the employment rate for this group fell 1.3 percentage points to 59.1 percent, marking the first time in five years that the rate has slipped below 60 percent.

In contrast, employment for people in their 30s showed growth. The population of that age group rose by 83,000 to 6.94 million, and the number of employed people increased by 103,000 to 5.6 million. Their employment rate rose to 80.9 percent, continuing an upward trend that began in 2022. Analysts suggest these diverging trends may be due to a shift toward entering the labor market at a later age.

How each side framed it

Centre
The outlet presented the data as a straightforward statistical report on employment trends.
Centre-right
The outlet presented the data as a straightforward statistical report on employment trends.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.