Youth Working Woes

“I became a totally different person because of unemployment. I am afraid of taking examinations for certificates and I am afraid of meeting new girls. Sometimes I feel like killing myself.”

Quarter-life crisis is rapidly spreading throughout Korean society. Many people in their twenties who should be confident about their futures are themselves in despair or fearful of failure. Not only jobless youth but also young people with hard-found jobs are considering emigration as a means of escape. Many young people are preparing for examinations as lawyers in the hope of reversing all setbacks and failures with only one test.

24-year-old Miss. Cho, who left an engineering company last October, said that she wants to leave Korea under any condition since “there seems to be no place for her in Korea”.

27-year-old Mr. Kim, who worked for a large corporation related to e-business, handed in his resignation letter early this month. He said he had worked hard for the company for two years but suddenly wondered “why he should work so hard every day”. He decided to leave the company even before his next job was determined. He is not a rare case.

It is analyzed that the reason for escapism of young people in their twenties lies in the social system as well as in their lack of “strength in mind”.

According to an survey entitled “Generation groups and lifestyles in Korean society” conducted by the Developmental Psychology Department of Yonsei University earlier this year, the upwardly mobile tendency of people in their twenties is as strong as or stronger than that of the older generation. An inflexible social atmosphere that does not understand failure along with the strong upwardly mobile tendency increases failure among young people or drives them to escapism, accordingly to the report.

Employment specialist Kim Nong-ju at Yonsei University said, “Most young people in their twenties think they would become failures if they cannot find a decent first job.” He also said, “As it gets harder to find a job due to the economic downturn, many young people suffer from despair or try to avoid reality.”

Accordingly to the employment report issued by the Korea National Statistical Office in February, the jobless rate between 20 and 29 stood at 8.5%, an all-time high in 24 months since February 2001. Moreover, accordingly to a survey of 1,543 adults by the Donga Newspaper, 59.8% of respondents in their twenties answered that “they would emigrate if possible”, which was higher than the average 40.7%.

sublime@donga.com tesomiom@donga.com