An analysis by the Bank of Korea on the 20th found that the lower the level of education, the higher the chance of becoming a young person who is "resting." For example, when there are 100 young people who graduated from a four-year university or above and are "resting," graduates of elementary, middle, and high school or junior colleges are more likely to be in a resting status, numbering 106. "Resting" youth are people in their 20s and 30s who are not actively seeking jobs and answered that they were "just resting."
That day, the Bank of Korea released a report analyzing the reasons young people move into a "resting" status, titled "Characteristics and evaluation of resting youth: A comparative analysis by type of non-employment." Last year, the number of people in their 20s and 30s who were resting reached 717,000, the highest since related statistics began in 2003. This amounts to 5.8% of the youth population (12,358,700).
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said that an analysis of the 2021–2023 Youth Panel Survey by the Korea Employment Information Service found that graduates of elementary, middle, and high school or junior colleges were 6.3 percentage points more likely to be in a "resting" status than four-year university graduates. In contrast, the probability that graduates of elementary, middle, and high school or junior colleges would prepare for employment or further study was 10.9 percentage points lower than that of four-year university graduates.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said, "If one's educational attainment is low, it can be interpreted that they assess expected returns from investing in human capital to be relatively low, increasing the likelihood of moving into a 'resting' status." It added, "Highly educated people tend to have higher expectations for jobs and are more likely to decide to invest further in human capital."
A father's education level and economic conditions also appear to influence whether young people choose to rest. When the father is a graduate of elementary, middle, and high school or a junior college, the probability that the child is in a "resting" status increases by 3.6 percentage points. In contrast, the probability that the child will invest in human capital falls by 7.1 percentage points. In addition, if young people have financial assets such as savings and time deposits, the probability of being in a resting status increases by 11.2 percentage points.
The longer the period of not being employed, the more likely the resting status is to persist. When the period of non-employment increases by one year, the probability that young people are in a resting status rises by 4.0 percentage points. For graduates of elementary, middle, and high school or junior colleges, the probability of resting increases by 5.4 percentage points the longer the non-employment period. In contrast, for four-year university graduates, even if the non-employment period lengthens, there is little difference in the probability of moving into a resting status.
The average wage that "resting" youth want to receive is 31 million won. This falls short of the 2023 average starting salary of 32 million won for high school graduates employed at mid-sized companies. The Bank of Korea (BOK) said, "Even if job mismatch can be considered one of the main factors worsening youth employment conditions, it seems difficult to identify it as the main factor behind the increase in 'resting' youth."