South Korea’s millennials -- those born between the 1980s and early 2000s -- have positive views of the country’s economic outlook for this year, but they found fault with its uneven distribution of wealth, according to Deloitte Consulting Korea.


The 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey by Deloitte Global showed that the proportion of millennials here with a positive appraisal of the economy stood at 48 percent, up 35 percentage points from the previous year, officials said Tuesday.

Furthermore, 52 percent of the respondents answered that the country’s social and political situations would advance this year, reflecting an upturn in public sentiment. The corresponding figures globally and for Southeast Asia were 33 percent and 49 percent, respectively.

As for issues of concern, an uneven distribution of wealth topped the list with 41 percent, followed by the aging population, climate change and natural disasters, economic stability and unemployment, data showed.

In seeking jobs, financial rewards and welfare were the most prioritized (75 percent), outrunning other factors such as corporate culture, flexible working hours, incentives, education, diversity and integrity.

“Korean millennials are increasingly getting involved in social, political and economic issues,” said Yang Seok-hoon, partner and human capital group leader at Deloitte Consulting.

“Governments and companies should swiftly adopt new technology and pre-emptively build social infrastructure in order to adapt to these changes.”

The company’s seventh annual millennial survey was conducted on 10,455 millennials from 36 countries, officials said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)