'It's harder to get a job' says 83% of surveyed job seekers

Korea Herald

26-06-2025

More than 8 out of 10 potential employees feel it has become harder to land a job in the first half of this year compared to before, a survey by a recruitment platform showed Thursday.
Saramin conducted the survey on 801 people seeking a workplace, which showed that 83.1 percent of the respondents said "the difficulty finding a job has worsened compared to last year." Another 14.9 percent said it was similar to before, and the remaining 2 percent said it had gotten easier.
When asked why the job market has worsened or stayed bad (multiple answers possible), 55.5 percent said it was because the corporations are posting fewer employment notifications, followed by lack of decent jobs (35.4 percent) and high competition for jobs (34.1 percent).
In terms of the measures taken to addressed this issue, 47.8 percent picked lowering expectations for jobs, 42.5 percent said they are applying more frequently, and 25.1 percent said they are hunting for any jobs available.
The surveyed people were pessimistic about the country's job market in the second half, as 38.4 percent said the situation would get worse, 48.9 percent said it would be about the same, and only 12.7 percent predicting the situation will get better.
When asked on reasons for the strained job market, 53.5 percent cited the difficulties faced by businesses, while 45.8 percent blamed expected failure to boost domestic demands. Some 34.9 percent said the uncertainties in the glocal economy, including tariff tensions, will affect their job-seeking prospects.
About 74.9 percent said economic growth is essential to address the problems in the job market, while 45.7 percent called for effective government policies.
A recent government report indicated that the problems for job-seekers is expected to continue for the immediate future. A Ministry of Employment and Labor report revealed Thursday showed that the companies across the country are expected to hire 9.7 percent less people in the second and third quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2024.
The Labor Ministry report showed that the local firms' were short-handed by 469,000 employees in the first quarter compared to the number of employees they needed for "normal operation" in terms of factors like running its manufacturing facility and responding to the market's demand.
The report's findings indicate that the Korean companies have generally been running short-handed in the Q1, but does not plan to substantially increase their hiring immediately.