Older workers outnumber younger hires in corporate workforce shift

For Kim Sang-hyun, who landed his first job at a bank last year at age 29, the road to employment was anything but smooth. “The job market felt completely frozen. A lot of people my age felt the same way,” Kim told The Korea Times. “When I was job hunting, there were many highly qualified candidates. But during interviews, people were often eliminated over small things — like being too nervous or making minor mistakes.” His story reflects a broader trend in Korea’s corporate landscape, where the workforce is aging as more employees stay on into their 50s and beyond, and the number of workers in their 20s continues to decline. Amid an economic slowdown and a growing preference for experienced hires, securing a job in one’s 20s has become increasingly difficult in Korea, raising concerns about the prospects for younger generations. The proportion of employees in their 20s at Korean companies dropped below that of workers aged 50 and older last year, according to data released Monday by corporate tracker Leaders Index — the first time such a reversal has occurred since the sWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times