More than half of unemployed young Koreans report burnout, with career anxiety the top cause

Korea Enterprises Federation analysis of 2024 Youth Life Survey microdata finds 52.7% burnout rate among unemployed youth aged 19–34; figure climbs to 61.8% for long-term job seekers; report calls for stronger vocational training and employment services

More than one in two unemployed young Koreans has experienced burnout — a state of physical and mental exhaustion — and the rate climbs past 60 percent for those who have been searching for work for more than a year, according to a new analysis. Researchers say prolonged job-market difficulties and employment insecurity are taking a measurable toll on the mental well-being of the country's youth.

The Korea Enterprises Federation analyzed microdata from the Office for Government Policy Coordination's 2024 Youth Life Survey and found that 52.7 percent of unemployed youth aged 19 to 34 reported experiencing burnout — about 1.6 times the 32.4 percent rate recorded among their employed peers. For those who had been looking for work for a year or more, the burnout rate soared to 61.8 percent.

Even among employed youth, employment type made a significant difference. Those in temporary or daily-wage jobs reported a burnout rate of 41.1 percent, roughly 1.4 times the 29.6 percent recorded among those in more stable, regular employment.

The leading cause of burnout among unemployed youth was career anxiety, cited by 68.4 percent of those who reported experiencing it. Disillusionment with work came second at 9.9 percent, followed by work-life imbalance at 7.1 percent.

Career anxiety was also the top driver for youth in temporary or daily-wage jobs, at 57.0 percent, followed by work overload at 13.6 percent and disillusionment with work at 12.1 percent. By contrast, regularly employed youth — whose job security is comparatively higher — showed a more even spread of causes: work overload at 23.2 percent, career anxiety at 20.5 percent and disillusionment with work at 19.9 percent.

The Korea Enterprises Federation said the average time young people take to land their first salaried job has been rising, pointing to a deteriorating labor market for youth. "The difficulties young people face in finding employment and their sense of job insecurity appear to be deepening burnout among the younger generation," the federation said.

To address youth burnout, the federation recommended strengthening workplace-based vocational training and tailored employment services, noting that South Korea's vocational training system is heavily skewed toward educational institutions rather than actual workplaces.

Young people struggling with career anxiety are calling for practical support in their job searches. Among unemployed youth, the most commonly requested form of support was financial assistance for job-search costs, cited by 36.3 percent, followed by vocational training at 23.3 percent and employment counseling services at 20.5 percent. Youth in temporary or daily-wage jobs similarly ranked financial support for job-search costs first at 22.6 percent, followed by employment counseling at 20.3 percent and vocational training at 20.0 percent.

South Korea's vocational training system is widely seen as poorly connected to actual workplaces. On-the-job training conducted at companies and other real work settings accounts for just 1.5 percent of the total, far below the OECD average of 11.7 percent. Vocational training spending as a share of GDP stands at 0.07 percent, also below the OECD average of 0.11 percent across 32 member countries. Meanwhile, institution-based vocational training accounts for 82.1 percent of the total, well above the OECD average of 67.4 percent among 31 member countries.

The federation said the government should expand subsidies to help companies provide on-the-job training directly to young workers, offer financial support for job-search costs to youth in difficult financial circumstances, and identify early those who have been searching for work for an extended period or are experiencing severe career anxiety so they can be connected with professional psychological counseling.

Lee Sang-ho, head of the federation's economic research division, said the government must improve the accessibility and effectiveness of employment services — including job-search cost support and employment counseling — to ensure young people feel tangible benefits, given strong policy demand among youth. "We need to expand vocational training investment, which currently falls short of the OECD average, while at the same time strengthening support for workplace-based training to improve the real-world relevance of vocational programs — pursuing both quantitative and qualitative improvements in parallel," Lee said.

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