Jobs

An economic and social relationship in which an individual supplies labor and earns income; the quantity and quality of employment are core agendas of national policy.

Jobs

Overview

A job refers to the economic and social relationship in which an individual supplies their labor power and receives income such as wages or salaries in return. For the individual, it is a means of livelihood and the basis of social identity; for society as a whole, it is a key variable that determines income distribution, consumption, tax revenue, and social cohesion. Accordingly, the quantity and quality of jobs, and their distribution, are treated as the highest-priority policy task in almost every country.

Main Content

Concept and Measurement

Labor market statistics divide the population into the economically active population and the economically inactive population. The economically active population is further divided into the employed and the unemployed.

  • Employed: A person who worked for one hour or more during the survey period for the purpose of income (ILO standard)
  • Unemployed: A person who has the will and ability to work and has engaged in job-seeking activities but has not obtained a job
  • Economically inactive population: Full-time homemakers, students, retirees, discouraged workers, etc.

The economically active population = employed + unemployed, and the employment rate is calculated as the proportion of employed persons among the population above a certain age, while the unemployment rate is calculated as the proportion of unemployed persons among the economically active population. Looking only at the unemployment rate excludes those who have given up job-seeking, so it is more accurate to view it together with the employment rate.

Structure of the Labor Market

The labor market is where the demand for labor (firms) and the supply of labor (households) meet, and wages are determined by the interaction of these two forces and by institutions (minimum wage, collective agreements, labor law). Employment responds with a lag to economic fluctuations, and during recessions a 'scarring effect' appears in which new hiring decreases and the long-term unemployed increase.

Types of Jobs

  • Wage workers and self-employed persons (non-wage workers, including special-type workers)
  • Regular and non-regular workers; permanent, temporary, and daily workers
  • Full-time and part-time
  • In-person work and remote, telework, and platform work

Jobs and Economic Growth

Jobs support household consumption through wages, supply production factors to firms, and provide tax revenue to the government. On the other hand, the spread of automation and artificial intelligence has revived the debate over 'technological unemployment.' In addition, the phenomenon of 'jobless growth,' in which the growth rate is high but employment does not increase, shows that growth and jobs are not automatically linked.

Youth and Older-Age Jobs

Young people face the problem of delayed entry into their first job and remaining in low-quality jobs—the so-called NEET and discouraged-worker problems. Conversely, as aging progresses, the share of employed persons in their 60s and older is increasing rapidly, and extending the retirement age, continued employment, and reemployment support have become major issues.

Quality of Employment

What is as important as the number of jobs is their quality. Representative problems include the wage and welfare gap between non-regular and regular workers, industrial accidents, long working hours, the level of the minimum wage, and blind spots in social insurance for platform workers. International organizations emphasize the concept of 'decent work,' which considers not only the simple employment rate but also income stability, social insurance coverage, working hours, and skill formation.

Policy Instruments

Governments mobilize a variety of instruments, including employment insurance and unemployment benefits, vocational training, direct public job creation programs, employment incentives for youth, women, and the middle-aged, minimum wage adjustments, reductions in working hours, and revisions to labor law. However, fiscally based direct job creation is disputed over sustainability and its crowding-out effect on private jobs, and the balance between deregulation and worker protection is always an issue.

Latest Trends

  • As the working-age population shrinks due to low birth rates and aging, the use of foreign labor is expanding. The Employment Permit System (E-9), seasonal workers, and the expansion of visas for professional personnel are being discussed and implemented.
  • With the spread of generative AI, work is being reorganized in translation, counseling, simple clerical work, and even some professional occupations, and interest in 'occupations replaceable by AI' has grown. At the same time, new AI-related jobs are rapidly emerging.
  • Institutional reforms are continuing to expand the application of employment insurance and industrial accident insurance to platform and gig workers.
  • The four-day workweek, the 4.5-day workweek, and flexible and remote work are being experimented with in some companies and in the public sector.
  • Young people's preference for large corporations and public institutions is intensifying, and along with regional extinction, the job gap between the Seoul metropolitan area and the provinces is widening.
  • Due to the reorganization of global supply chains, reshoring, and investment in advanced industries such as semiconductors and secondary batteries, regional disparities in manufacturing labor demand are growing.
  • In 2024–2025, many analyses suggest that employment among the self-employed and small business owners has become particularly vulnerable as inflation, interest rates, and weak domestic demand have overlapped.

Related Topics

  • [[Labor Market]]
  • [[Unemployment]]
  • [[Employment Insurance]]
  • [[Minimum Wage]]
  • [[Population Aging]]
  • [[Platform Labor]]