“I am currently a high school student. The family situation is bad and the allowance is small, so I called several places to try a part-time job, but he said it was not possible because he was young.”
“I started working to have social experience, but these days I quit for those who really need a living because of a difficult time.”
The above articles are boringly posted in the Internet community where teenagers often visit to find jobs. It is said that it is difficult to get a job or that they quit. It is analyzed that this is because the jobs of teenagers, the most vulnerable class in the job market, sharply declined as employment difficulties increased due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19).
The employment rate in teens (15-19 years old) also plummeted. Graphic = Kim Eun-kyo [email protected]
According to the National Statistical Portal of the National Statistical Office on the 22nd, the number of employed people aged 15-19 last year was 162,000, down 36,000 (18.2%) from the previous year. The number of employees who have decreased the number of employed is the largest after 2018 (42,000), when the sharp minimum wage increase was made, and the rate of decrease is the highest ever. Considering that the total number of employed workers declined by 0.8% last year, the job losses for the 15-19 year olds are remarkable.
The employment situation worsened in January of this year. Compared to January of last year, the number of employed people decreased by 59,000, and the rate of decrease was 28.8%, the largest in history. This means that almost three out of ten jobs have disappeared. The employment rate was also 6.6% last year, down 1 percentage point compared to the previous year, and in January this year, it fell almost 2 percentage points to 6.2% from last year’s January (8.1%).
Teenage (15-19 years old) jobs disappear. Graphic = Kim Eun-kyo [email protected]
This is due to the demographic factor of the declining population in the late teens. However, the decline in the 15-19 year old population last year was 7.6%. It is much lower than the reduction rate of employed persons in the age group (18.2%). In addition to the decline in the population, other factors were more important.
The prolonged corona 19 is regarded as the’main culprit’. According to the ‘2019 Economically Active Population Yearbook’, 79.3% of employed 15-19 years old work as temporary or daily workers. Because I often work while studying at the same time, I often work part-time.
However, finding an Alba with Corona 19 also became’picking the stars in the sky’. As a result of a survey of 4711 part-time job seekers this month by Albamon, a part-time job portal, 83.5% answered that it has become difficult to find an Alba after Corona 19.
There is also a big impact on the decline in jobs in the face-to-face service sector, which was hit directly by social distancing. The wholesale/retail, food, and lodging industries (60.6%) where 15-19-year-olds work the most, is one of the representative industries where jobs evaporated last year.
The fact that work skills are relatively lower than those of other age groups and that long-term service is difficult are also considered as reasons for being excluded from the job market. Most employers feel that adolescents are awkward and less responsible than adults. I think that if I pay the same wages in a yard where the burden of labor costs increases, I will use an adult. In addition, when reducing the job, it is possible to relieve the burden on the mind to let out teenagers than in their 40s and 50s with a family.
In this regard, even if Corona 19 subsides, it is expected that it will not be easy for adolescents to find new jobs until the overall employment conditions are restored.
Kang Seong-jin, a professor of economics at Korea University, said, “Among the ages of 15-19 who earn money while working, there are many students who want to raise their own living expenses and school expenses as heads of boys and girls. There is a risk of being driven into the environment.”
Sejong = Reporter Son Hae-yong [email protected]