The echo-boomer generation, or the children of baby boomers, is facing a crisis in unemployment, credit and housing amid the economic slump, a local think tank said in a report released Sunday.

Echo boomers are experiencing a painful entry into society under an economic environment that is distinctly different from the one their parents went through, Hyundai Economic Research Institute said.

The population of echo boomers, born between 1979 and 1985, was around 5.1 million in 2010.

Despite their high level of education, echo boomers are finding it extremely difficult to get employed due to a mismatch between the academic backgrounds of jobseekers and what employers are looking for. An increasing number of echo boomers are living on part-time jobs with no strong desire for full-time employment.

The “Not in Education, Employment or Training” population on the whole has decreased recently, but NEETs have risen to make up to a quarter of the echo boomer generation, HRI said, citing the results of a 2012 survey by the Korea Labor Institute.

“The number of NEET echo boomers who are ‘taking time off’ as they were unable to find jobs has increased,” the Hyundai think tank said in the report.

Echo boomers also face a credit crisis as the tightened job market for college graduates makes it harder for them to pay back student loans.

The employment rate of four-year college graduates, which was around 60 percent before the global financial crisis in 2008, plummeted to 45 percent in 2010. The employment rate of people with master’s degrees also fell from 70 percent to 60 percent.

The number of people with student loans also rose from about 180,000 in 2005 to more than 1.36 million in 2011.

One out of every eight of those borrowers was in arrears last year.

The number of credit delinquents ― those at least six months behind in their student loan payments ― reached 32,000 in 2011.

In addition to the tough job market, higher housing costs became a barrier to marriage for echo boomers, HRI said.

Last year’s nationwide apartment price index jumped to 1.5 times the level in 1986. The price index for jeonse, or the lump-sum deposit for a lease, shot up 2.3 times in the same period, discouraging echo boomers from becoming independent individuals.

“If echo boomers cannot properly enter society, the economy and society will lose vitality and a decline in population will accelerate,” HRI said in the report.

“The conflict between generations over jobs will intensify and more young people will depend financially on their parents, raising the chances of poverty for the parents as well.”

HRI added that the first step to help echo boomers settle is to create jobs.

By Kim So-hyun  (sophie@heraldcorp.com)