The number of young people who are neither working nor job hunting and who answered that they "just rested" has passed the 700,000 mark. Last year was the first year the statistic crossed that line. On the 19th the Korea Employment Information Service released a report titled "Analysis of Overseas Youth Employment Policies and Policy Recommendations," setting out how other countries have handled the issue.
What the report addresses at the outset is the European Union's Youth Guarantee. The EU has recommended that member states run the scheme more thoroughly. It works by offering young people who have graduated from school or left a job one of the following within four months: a job, education and training, or an apprenticeship. The four-month limit comes close to a promise that policy will cut short the period a young person holds out alone.
Finland's NEET rate rose to 11.2% in 2014 and 11.8% the following year, then came down to 9.2% in 2023. What Finland laid out across the country during this period were one-stop support centers called "Ohjaamo." At about 70 locations, any young person under the age of 30 receives education, training, and employment support in one place.
What sets Ohjaamo apart is the threshold. Without booking an appointment in advance, you can walk in and look for a job together with staff, work on your résumé, and get help preparing for interviews. It does not stop there, and you can talk through your life as a whole, including housing, managing money, health, and welfare. It is closer to a counseling desk for daily life than a counseling desk for jobs.
Some countries have taken a different route. Ireland introduced its "Pathway to Work" strategy in 2012 and pulled its scattered public employment services into one. Once you register with "Intreo," the point of contact for this system, a single case officer takes charge of that young person. They are sorted into three tracks according to how great the risk of falling into long-term unemployment is, and the degree of intervention differs by track.
Spain has given regions a larger role than the central government. Regional employment services and autonomous community governments jointly run vocational education and training (VET) and internships at the same time, helping young people into their first jobs. The researchers behind the report recommended breaking down groups that need concentrated support, such as NEETs, into finer categories and approaching them in stages, and involving young people themselves in the process of making policy.
Discussion of youth policy is moving in Korea as well. On the 6th of this month the first ministerial meeting on youth policy was held at the Government Complex Seoul, with Oh Chang-seok, chairman of the Youth Foundation, attending as an invitee. On the 12th, at the Youth Foundation in Jongno-gu, Seoul, with Prime Minister Kim Min-seok present, the Youth Foundation and the banking sector signed a memorandum of understanding to help young people in the regions relocate and settle.
There are parts that employment alone does not explain. Chairman Oh mentioned the problem in which the moment a couple registers their marriage they run into the combined income ceiling and are pushed out of housing subscriptions and loans. In 2024, 6 out of every 100 newborns were born outside marriage, the highest share on record. A report released by the Bank of Korea also found that when housing prices rise, consumption by young people and non-homeowners falls, working negatively on welfare.
The Seoul Youth Center Geumcheon calls itself a "space for rest and connection." Rather than blaming laziness in young people who are resting, the idea is to offer a place to sit down first. What Ohjaamo proved was, in the end, that order. Tracking data showing how much use of youth centers in Korea has actually led to employment is at a stage where it has not been settled, but it is clear that confirming this is the next task.
A young Finn who pushes open the door of an Ohjaamo before their thirtieth birthday does not have to sort out in advance what they will ask for help with. Whether youth centers in Korea can handle that degree of looseness is now being put to the test. The 700,000 are made up of 700,000 different mornings.
