The 2030 crisis that could become a national disaster

Choi Hoon

The author is a senior columnist at the JoongAng Ilbo. 

Job seekers. Cafe and convenience store workers. Delivery riders in helmets. Freelancers. Young people simply taking time off.

Koreans in their 20s and 30s are in trouble. Numbering 12.36 million, or 24.2 percent of the population, they are the generation that will shape the country’s future. They are arguably the most competitive generation produced by Korea, as they are equipped with digital skills, foreign-language ability, global awareness and strong educational backgrounds. Yet they face challenges far greater than those encountered by previous generations.

The clearest sign is the youth unemployment rate, which reached 7 to 7.2 percent in May and June, exceeding the Covid-19 pandemic peak. Unemployed college graduates totaled 481,000 in the second quarter of the year, the highest level since 2021. Graduates now wait an average of 11.2 months for their first job, while 48.6 percent remain unemployed for more than a year, the highest level since the 2009 global financial crisis.

The consequences extend well beyond delayed marriage and childbirth. Long-term unemployment destroys hope, fuels political frustration and deepens generational conflict. It erodes social trust while widening the gap in skills and experience accumulated during the most important years of working life. Left unresolved, it threatens Korea’s future human capital and could become a national disaster.

This is hardly a problem for Korea alone. In China, the term “full-time children” has emerged to describe young adults who financially depend on their parents since they do not work. In India, outrage erupted after the chief justice reportedly called young unemployed protesters “cockroaches.” Young people responded by creating the online “Cockroach Janta Party,” which attracted about 20 million Instagram followers in a week and helped fuel nationwide protests over alleged medical school admissions irregularities that eventually forced the education minister from office.

Ironically, one of the biggest causes of youth unemployment is AI — often hailed as the defining technology of the age — which has taken over much of the entry-level work once assigned to new employees, from research and translation to drafting documents.

The Financial Times reported on July 7 that AI has rendered most entry-level work unnecessary, prompting companies to favor experienced employees who can contribute immediately while reducing training costs. The New York Times has described the trend as “low hire, low fire”: companies retain existing workers while sharply reducing new recruitment.

Korea reflects the same pattern. According to the Korea Enterprises Federation, the share of companies conducting regular open recruitment fell from 39.9 percent in 2018 to just 10.2 percent this year, and 54.8 percent now recruit only when positions become available.

That means that universities and other educational institutions must change. If AI has eliminated much of the traditional apprenticeship period, graduates need practical skills that allow them to contribute from day one. An education system that merely passes on outdated lecture notes and leaves graduates to survive on their own risks becoming another casualty of AI.

Recent research points to another major factor. A June report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “Remote Work Leaves Younger Workers Sideline,” concludes that remote work established after the pandemic accounted for 64 percent of the increase in unemployment among recent college graduates. Employers increasingly favor experienced workers because mentoring, knowledge transfer and immediate feedback are more difficult in remote settings.

Young workers think differently. A May 2025 Gallup survey found only 6 percent of Generation Z wanted to work in the office every day, 23 percent preferred fully remote work and 71 percent favored hybrid arrangements. Companies should respond by creating more flexible workplaces instead of relying on traditional supervision.

Schools, businesses and governments must now rethink what opportunities the AI era offers young people, what skills they will need and how education and training should change from elementary school onward. Young people themselves must be part of that discussion, with fairness and equal opportunity as its foundation.

Families also have an important role. A Financial Times article published on July 11 advised parents of unemployed children not to say that it “was different back in [their] day” and never to place psychological pressure on them over employment. Instead, reassure them that time is on their side and that they do not have to get everything right from the beginning.

Perhaps we should all begin there by saying to the young people around us, “Everything will be all right. We believe in you and will always support you.”