The Youth Struggle for Jobs in South Korea: Dualism, Inequality, and Youth Labor Market

Abstract

This article examines the political economy of South Koreas youth labor market over the past two decades. It argues that the institutional characteristics of the dualistic labor market along the lines of firm size and employment status have exacerbated youth labor market problems in South Korea. The segmentation of the labor market has incentivized the young people to desperately look for good first jobs because of the difficulty in making a transition from the external labor market to the internal labor market at the later stage of employment. It claims that not only the number of jobs, but also the quality of jobs matters to South Koreas youth labor market problem.