Youth unemployment has become big trouble for young people in the springtime of their lives. There is no way to solve youth unemployment anymore in Korean society. In recent times, new words such as 'passion-pay', 'Moratorium', 'poor English' have come to represent the severity of unemployment. Although other countries also have the problem of youth unemployment, the situation in Korean is worse than in any other nation. The rate of youth unemployment is 10.2%, and the sensory rate of unemployment is 25%. These figures show that Korea could be heading towards a national crisis, so a fundamental solution is needed for this situation. It is a sorry situation, that the youth of Korea are wasting their time and passion because of the unemployment.

1. What is the Cause of Youth Unemployment?

a. Economic Recession

Above all, economic recession is a main cause of youth unemployment. And the reason of the recession is the decrease in the potential growth rate. The potential growth rate is the rate which is calculated amount of fluctuation of national economy compared with last year in one country for 1year. Korea had shown a high potential growth rate of 8 to9% until the 90’s. But the potential growth rate decreased rapidly to 3% from the 2000’s. The causes of the decreasing potential growth rate are low birth, efficient labor decline by aging population, depreciation of productivity growth rate and income inequality. Korean enterprises have reduced the opportunity of employment as the economy has declined, due to these causes. Also Korean corporations have to pay much higher wages to senior employees through deferred retirement. By hiring minimum personnel, enterprises can save money and make a maximum profit. Because Korean companies have imposed a seniority system, the continuous service years and wages have increased. Therefore, companies must pay more salary. Because of this, the number of new recruit has reduced, and the opportunity of employment gradually disappears.

b. Young People Who Chase the Economic Value

If you ask young people nowadays to choose between a job which gives high wages with some added risks and a stable job which gives low wages without any risks at all, the majority of them will select the latter. Because contemporary young people usually set the target of getting a stable job, the category of employment is limited a lot. So the people who get certified and prepare to become civil servants has increased rapidly. People also seem to prefer public enterprises to private enterprises nowadays. It is not bad that many people prefer a stable job. However, if the phenomenon of job preference prevails like this, it could have a bad influence on the economy in the future. Usually, the profit of companies comes from the innovation of enterprise, which often originates from young people’s creative and fresh ideas. But, if young people prefer stability, meaning more people tend to get a job in public enterprises, the more private enterprises miss many creative personnel. In the end, the Korean economy will be disrupted by stability.

In addition, it is very clear that most people have a tendency to try to find large companies rather than small companies. Also there are people who are able to get a job again after resigning, not being satisfied with their previous job though they had a job before. The number of unemployed young people has been increasing since there are still people who think "I only want a large company to be employed in". These social conditions generally come from the idea that only a person who works for a large company can be recognized in Korean society. This is a different notion from stability. It originates from the desire that people want various benefits and a higher wage in company. Our generation has become strong in its individual tendency, and what we aim at is to be getting bigger as globalization increases too. Thus, going to a higher place is the purpose of some young people.

c. Rapid Development of Technology

Maybe technology has started to take our jobs in modern times. This is a cause of concern for all of the Korean unemployed including youth unemployment. In other words, the rapid development of technology has replaced people and created a drain in manpower. Though, in the past, there were machines in the workplace but still, most work was accomplished by people and machines helped us do the the most dangerous parts. However, these days, most advanced techniques took people's work and have become a center of the unemployment crisis problem. We can't tell that all unemployment problems are technology's fault and that the rapid development of technology is in trouble. But, it still can't be denied that technology may have taken some of our positions.

2. There is No Place to Go for Young Applicants

a. Temporary Job's Diffusion

You must have heard of the phrase 'passion pay'. This phrase is an often used word now. This term is used when many employer exploits young employee as cheap labor with low wage. This kind of custom is representatively prominent in internships. Ordinarily, when the company hires new employees, it first recruits people as an intern and then hires them as permanent employees after evaluating their tasks and personality. However, not all interns have the conviction that they are going to be a permanent employee. Rather, they just end their job life in getting a low salary and not becoming a full-time worker. The employment portal site, 'Saramin', ran a survey on 125 companies, who have temporary positions. As a result, the rate of converting temporary workers to regular workers was 33% on average. In other words, only 3 interns out of 10 interns turned into regular workers. Essentially, enterprise regards interns as a disposable product.

b. Going toward Noryangjin

As aforementioned, modern young people have a strong tendancy to pursue stability. So there are many young people who prepare for various civil service examinations. Noryangjin is the central place where these people cluster. Noryangjin is the place where many private educational institutes gather and is the meeting place of young applicants. They think that even preparing for state examinations needs a longer period of time than just getting into an ordinary company, they still prefer the former because of its stable job conditions. Not everybody thinks in these ways, we can't neglect the fact that the percentage of people who prepare for national examinations has increased rapidly. According to Statistics Korea's data, there are around 63,000 young Korean applicants and 35% of them are preparing for the exam to become a civil servant. The National Statistical Office proposes that these results have come from young people's preference for stability.

c. Limitation of Ideas

In order to solve the youth unemployment, let's throw up the ultimate question. Why are we crazy about working for public enterprises and large companies? The reason for stability is right too. But, are we necessarily finding such jobs? First, we must not overlook the many students who have no dream. Most recently, the adolescent's goal has just been to enter university and they are not thinking about their careers. Therefore, some people leave school or change their major since their major has not adapted to them. They went to university not for the dream of doing so, but were only focused on their scores. Thus, people follow other people's careers and are crowded into similar jobs. Moreover, what students learn in university is also limited. As a result, students aim to get a certain job, which has created a surplus phenomenon. Also, because there are not many chances to experience jobs, being narrow sighted creates a limitation on unemployment.

3. Unemployment Medicine

a. Salary Peak

“Salary peak” means extending the retirement age of senior employees in return for reducing their salaries until resignation. More than 300 people who are at the age of retirement will increase from 50 to 60 through this system. And this system decreases the burden of an organization by increasing the retirement age. The merit of this system is that enterprise can continue to hire elderly workers and their technology with low wage and increase new recruits. So, the unemployment of fifty elderly workers can be relieved through salary peak system. If one company carries out this salary peak system, it is said that 16% more new employees can be hired compared to companies that don’t use the system. . However, there is a flaw in that the overall level of wages in society will fall. This means, if organizations use the experienced skills of the elderly, new employees can be hired at a lower price. This will decrease the productivity of a company because of demoralizing employees when they get old. Thus, 'Salary Peak System' needs a scrutiny and trial and error under government's control.

b. Challenge to the World, Youth!

The attitude of preferring a stable job must be refrained from by Korean youth. Have you heard of the word; 'Challenging is the only way to success'? The challenging would be the only way for success. In Korean society, following other people and going the same way are shortcuts to failure. When we find our own interests, we can achieve our dreams, gain jobs or be famous people. For example, these days, the youth establishment is popular for many people. Opening your own store and having confidence and ideas is a challenge to the world. It is important to challenge confidently like this. There is no person who does well the first time. Through the process of rising again and again, we learn how to succeed by learning from our mistakes.

c. Cooperation is the Only Solution

Let's break the unemployment chain through cooperation. It's the very cooperation between labor and management that will end the high unemployment rate. It sounds ideal, but this method is regarded as the best solution, in that organizations make considerations for students and students consider organizations the same without bias. Mutual help is the ultimate key to resolving this problem. First, an organization ought to change it’s policies about changing to permanent position so that the word 'passion pay' doesn't come out anymore. Temporary employees must be changed into regular employees, via personnel evaluation. Also, regular employees have to be guaranteed a convenient work environment. Likewise, our youth must work in the places where they want. And we must find our own dreams according to own interests and aptitudes. It is a right to work in the place where people can work happily and hard. You must remember that the success of getting a job is the beginning of real social business. That spot is the real start of your life.

CAH wants to say to you all, "Live your life brilliantly without getting tied down." and "Prepare for your dreams, for your future"