South Korea's young "lying flat tribe" reached a new high of more than 440,000

The youth unemployment rate in Korea is less than 6 percent, but complex social problems are hidden. According to statistics, in July this year, the number of South Korean youth who do not work, do not look for work, do not study, the number of "lying flat" reached 443,000, a record high.

According to data released by the National Statistical Office on Sunday (August 18), the number of young people aged 15 to 29 who chose to lie down in July increased by 42,000 from a year earlier to 443,000, a record high for the same month.

These "lay people" are not unable to work because of illness or disability, but voluntarily choose to withdraw from the labor market. With the decrease of the youth population, the proportion of people choosing to lie down has increased. In July of this year, 5.4 percent of the 8.15 million young people were "lying down", the highest rate in the same month of the year.

From recent data, between 2013 and 2017, the number of "lying flat" youth in South Korea in July fluctuated between more than 200,000, exceeded 300,000 in 2018, reached 441 thousand in 2020, decreased to 361,000 in 2022, but began to rise again from 2023. Compared with other age groups, the rate of young people choosing "lying flat" is higher, the number of people in their 40s, 30s and 50s "lying flat" is 284,000, 288,000 and 394,000 respectively.

It is worth noting that most of the "lying down" youth have no intention of working. Of these, 75.6 percent said they were unwilling to work.

For those who want to find a job but have not done so, the main reasons include fear of not finding the ideal salary and working conditions (42.9%), having searched for a job before but not successfully (18.7%), and lack of necessary education and technical experience (13.4%).

Kim, 27, who left her job last month, said, I started working at an advertising agency in February last year, but I got tired of having to deal with various chores as a new employee. I am resting now and agonizing over which job to choose.

Kim Kwang-seok, director of the economic research department at the Korea Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, said that current job seekers are eager to get high-quality, high-paying jobs, but the actual opportunities are limited, resulting in fierce competition, and many young people choose to "lie flat" due to lack of confidence in their ideal jobs. This negative expectation makes them prefer to temporarily withdraw from the job market rather than settle for a job they are not satisfied with.

The analysis points out that this phenomenon is likely to continue unless the structure of the labor market itself and the perception of jobs remain unchanged.