Despite the recent improvement in employment indicators, more than 72,000 job losses occurred in the..

사진 확대

Despite the recent improvement in employment indicators, more than 72,000 job losses occurred in the first half of last year due to intensifying job mismatches in the labor market, according to the National Research Institute. The reasons for the job mismatch are a decrease in the number of job seekers, a widening imbalance in manpower between industries, and a decrease in matching efficiency between job seekers and vacant jobs.

The Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade analyzed on the 30th that the mismatch index in the domestic labor market more than doubled from 4% in the first half of 2010 to 8% in the first half of last year through “the current status of labor market mismatch and policy suggestions.” The resulting employment losses increased from 12,000 to 72,000 during the same period. The mismatch index used by academia is a measure of the difference between job seekers in each industry, vacant jobs, and social optimal employment and actual employment considering matching efficiency.

The Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade explained that the recent increase in mismatches is the result of a combination of a decrease in the number of job seekers, an imbalance in manpower supply between industries, and a decrease in match efficiency between job seekers and vacant jobs. It was triggered by a sharp drop in the total number of job seekers in the economy, mainly in manufacturing and information and communication industries, especially in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, medical and precision devices, and industrial robots, where technological innovation is important.

Min Soon-hong, an associate researcher at the Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade, said, “The decrease in job seekers has affected the supply and demand of high-tech industrial workers in the manufacturing industry, especially semiconductors, secondary batteries, and medical precision devices, and the shortage of professional manpower in charge of R&D is serious,” adding, “The recruitment rate is also falling from 90% in 2015 to 70% in 2024, so it is expected that the problem of manpower supply will be difficult to resolve in a short period of time.”

The Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade analyzed that the more “good jobs” deviations between industries and the more highly educated job seekers, the deeper the job mismatch. In other words, since jobs at large companies with high wage and job stability are recognized as good jobs, the greater the difference in the proportion of good jobs between industries, the deeper the manpower imbalance. In addition, it is evaluated that highly educated people are reluctant to work downward due to high standards for working conditions and are rigid in moving the labor market due to the high direct and indirect costs of moving to non-major jobs.

“In order to secure the effectiveness of the good job policy, it is necessary to review the policy effectiveness in advance, such as reviewing the wage level needed to achieve the target inflow workforce and calculating the amount of subsidies to correct the current wage and the difference,” Min said. “Industry-tailored talents such as semiconductor departments have difficulty responding flexibly to job changes caused by industrial rise and fall, which can cause a decrease in labor market efficiency in the long run.”

The report analyzed the labor market using the mismatch index because of the problem that the employment indicators released by the government do not properly reflect the current employment situation. In fact, the unemployment rate announced by the government has been below 3% since 2022 and remains lower than before COVID-19, but the job search difficulty has worsened.

In particular, the number of “rested” young people in their 20s has increased sharply since 2018, and the paradox continues that the unemployment rate improves as more young people give up looking for jobs. This is because the unemployment rate is a measure of people who are willing and able to work.