Three out of ten job seekers now in their 30s, companies say

A graduate at Konkuk University in Seoul looks at the school’s job board just after a ceremony where he received his degree, Feb. 23. According to Statistics Korea data, the unemployment rate among those aged 15-29 increased by one percentage point last year to 9%. (Newsis)

With fewer jobs available, South Koreans spending longer job hunting, though companies say hiring older people can be “awkward”

Three out of every ten company job applicants last year were in their thirties, a recent survey shows.

The news comes as longer job-seeking periods mean more people apply for work at a later age in the past.

Saramin, a website for job seekers, announced on Feb. 23 that a survey of 461 companies on applicant ages showed an average of 33% of job applicants in their thirties for the 379 workplaces that hired new employees last year. A total of 44.1% of companies also reported a higher average age for new hires compared to the year before.

For the survey, online questionnaires were distributed to human resource managers at the companies between Jan. 19 and 27.

59.4% of the 461 companies surveyed said they felt “awkward” about hiring older employees. The most commonly cited reason was “because it makes the current employees uncomfortable,” given by 53.3% (multiple answers were allowed). The next most frequent answers were “because it might be disruptive to the organizational hierarchy” (48.2%), “because they are likely to have higher standards in terms of wages and conditions” (35.8%), “because they seem unlikely to follow instructions” (30.7%), and “because there is likely to be some reason they have not been hired to date” (20.8%).

As average ages when an applicant would be considered “somewhat old,” companies gave 32 for a male applicant with a four-year university degree, and 30 for a female applicant. This discrepancy can be explained by the two or more years of military service that South Korean males must complete.

By Kim Jeong-pil, staff reporter

　

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