00:00Here's something worth your attention today. Korea's labor market just sent two very different
00:05signals at the same time. It's Thursday, November 12th. Let's talk about a trend affecting young
00:10professionals in Korea. Employment rose by 139,000 in October, marking five consecutive months of
00:17growth. But the gains came almost entirely from health care and social welfare. Accommodation and
00:23food services shed 137,000 jobs, the sharpest drop since early 2021. Here's what the numbers show.
00:31Workers aged 15 to 29 declined for the 48th straight month. Their employment rate fell to 42.9%,
00:39the lowest October reading since 2020. Manufacturing returned to decline after a single month of growth
00:45and construction has now shrunk for 30 months. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy and Finance
00:51is restructuring its growth forecasts to three updates a year, a first in 32 years. Officials
00:57are also framing the so-called K-shaped divide as the top economic policy priority for next year.
01:04The gap between large company regular workers and non-regular workers narrowed to 61.1% in 2024,
01:11from 69.1% in 2021. But the net asset gap between people in their 30s and those over 60
01:18widened to
01:192.14 times. So what does this mean for early career professionals weighing their next move?
01:25Earlier, we said that youth employment is still contracting even as headline job numbers rise.
01:30Here's what that actually means for you. If you're in your first five years at a Korean company,
01:35your bargaining position depends heavily on whether your sector is part of the growth story.
01:40Services hiring is recovering while youth-heavy hospitality is contracting,
01:44so your market value depends on where you sit in that split. Watch whether the government's
01:49promised employment programs actually reach junior staff in the coming months. That's today's AI
01:55Prism. Early careers. This episode was produced with AI assistants based on Seoul Economic Daily
02:01reporting. AI Prism is a Juan IFRA award-winning series. We'll be back tomorrow.
02:07We'll be back tomorrow.
