Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

'Inactive' Koreans Boost Unemployment Rate to 11.5%

[Billy Pilgrim]

'Real Swedish jobless rate 15%'
By David Ibison in Stockholm

[hugo_danner]

Governments always fudge facts and figures to paint a rosier picture. Nothing new there!

[sojourner1]

My neighbors are always home all day with their doors open. I know, because I come back when I get at least a 1 hour break between any classes as well as for lunch. I see young adults walking around all day every time I look who seem to be up to no good laziness and depression.

We are talking 20 and 30 year olds that don't hardly work or don't work at all. I ask myself, "is it because they lack career prospects or is it because they simply don't need to?" Dunno. I am guessing many depend on another source of income such as parents well into adulthood. It's true, many young adults don't work or do anything outside of raising small children so that may boost the unemployment rate figures. I know I be hearing allot of daytime soap opera like TV shows playing when I walk around during the day to and from work.

[Real Reality]

[LuckyNomad]

I was talking to one of my friends about this today. She's a college senior. She said that one of the reasons is that many Koreans don't want to work for smaller companies that do need employment because they lack prestige. The parents aren't going to be pround unless they can brag that their kids work for a big company like LG or Samseung. And with Koreans tendency to stay with 1 company forever, they don't want to work at a small company forever.

I noticed that in my town, one of the options for 20 something year old men is to live in the PC room by day and deliver Chinese food by night. It certainly keeps the cigarette industry in business.

[Yaya]

Yep, PC rooms are becoming foster motels to peeps who cannot afford housing, and some owners are accommodating them though I'm sure it's not legal.

The problem with Korea is that many companies seem paranoid about hiring, and well, it's not without good reason. Korean labor laws are among the strongest in the world, and it's so hard to fire someone, even if they are the worst inept idiots you've ever seen. So most companies simply choose not to hire or get temps, and even getting temps will be tough now that the law requires temps who finish two one-year contracts to be brought on full-time (a very European practice).

My answer is to alleviate labor law to allow more flexibility. I've been working temp, or "freelance" according to Koreans, for the past two years. It's not bad as you have more freedom with your schedule since it's more about getting the job done than putting in hours. I guess since I grew up in the U.S., I have a certain work mentality that differs considerably from the people here (as in I don't judge productivity by how many hours I spent in the office).

Then again, Europe has even higher levels of joblessness save Britain.

[mercury]

One solution for the ladies ........


MARRY AN ENGLISH TEACHER!
Bulgogi dinners, Raw Fish, unlimited booze,trips to Thailand, Trips to America and Canada and Australia! Money in hand, prestige, apartment, great chance to improve English!



these ladies are pretty smart! But....will it last

[mikekim]

[just another day]

[amo_jh]

there's a new saying in Korea, I suppose some of you may have heard, called "Lee Tae Baek", meaning most of people in 20s are jobless. Hunting and competing for jobs among college graduates in Korea is getting waaay out of control. I feel very bad for the koreans. They study their *** off during high school to get into univ, and start preparing for job interviews from day 1. A large portion of applicants for class 9 government positions are graduates from SKY (Seoul Univ, Yeonsei Univ, Koryo Univ, the 3 best univs in Korea). It's sad..

[VirginIslander]

I would like to track some of students over the next 10-20 years and write a book about it.

I would answer questions such as did the Piano, English, Science, Math and Tae-Kwon-Do lessons 1. develop a love of learning and 2. increase their job prospects?

[jaganath69]

[just another day]

[MissSeoul]