Low wage, work stress among reasons why Koreans seek new jobs

A survey showed Friday that the biggest reason South Koreans seek new jobs is dissatisfaction with wages, followed by work-related stress and work-life balance.

Local data research firm PMI surveyed 1,000 Koreans between the ages of 20 and 69 and found that 52.5 percent of the respondents picked “low wage” as the reason they wanted to change workplaces. The survey allowed respondents to select multiple answers.

The second most popular answer was “work-related stress,” picked by 44.4 percent of the respondents, and “work-life balance” followed with 27 percent. Other answers included “work culture (23.4 percent),” “long commute (21.2 percent)” and “lack of opportunities to improve one‘s professional career (14.8 percent).”

When asked what they thought was the most important factor of a new job, 44.8 percent of the respondents picked wages.

The survey also showed that the biggest obstacle to changing jobs was “the pressure of having to adapt to new work,” chosen by 28.2 percent of the respondents. It was followed by “unstable job market (27.6 percent)” and “difficulty in getting a job due to competition in the job market (22 percent).”

Male and female respondents differed on what they feared most about finding work. “Unstable job market” was chosen by the most men (30.5 percent), but the No.1 factor for women was the “pressure of having to adapt to new work,” picked by 29.2 percent.

When asked if they plan to change their jobs, 47.2 percent of respondents said they do not have plans, while 20.1 percent said they planned to move to a new job in one or two years.