Young Koreans’ economic participation hits decade high

[THE INVESTOR] The economic participation rate of Koreans in their 20s hit a decade-high in the second quarter of the year, data showed on Oct. 4.

According to Statistics Korea, the economic participation rate of those in their 20s rose 1.3 percentage points from the second quarter of last year to come in at 65.7 percent. The figure is the highest seen since the final quarter of 2005 when it came to 65.8 percent.

However, the data also showed that the number of unemployed in their 20s has risen at a much higher rate than that of employed individuals. The economic participation rate includes employed individuals and unemployed jobseekers. 

The data showed that the number of economically active people in their 20s rose 2.9 percent from a year ago to come in at 4.22 million. Of these, about 3.78 million were employed, while 434,000 were unemployed.

The number of employed individuals in their 20s had increased 2.4 percent on year, while that of unemployed but economically active individuals had jumped 7 percent over the same period.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)