是什么因素驱动了韩国 “躺平” 青年？对非就业青年的比较分析

What Factors Drivethe‘Resting’Youthin Korea?A Comparative Analysis of Non-employed Youth January20, 2026 Minjeong KimJunior Economist,Labor MarketResearch Team, Research Department,Bank of KoreaTel. 02-759-4187kmj@bok.or.kr SamilOhHead,Labor Market Research Team,Research Department, Bank of KoreaTel. 02-759-4232samil.oh@bok.or.kr JinyeongYunEconomist,Labor Market ResearchTeam, Research Department, Bank of Korea Tel. 02-759-4434jinyeong.yun@bok.or.kr ①The proportion of the‘Resting’people increases consistently, mainly among youth.Notably,the numberof the‘Resting’youth who do not want a job is on the rise, suggesting an increasein the‘Resting’youth witha low probability of re-entering the labor market.By education level, while theproportionof youth withlowereducational attainmentis high, the‘Resting’youth withhigher educational attainmenthaveincreasedrecently. ②Using the Youth Panel, we classify non-employed youthinto threetypes:①Job seeking,②Humancapital investment, and③Resting.We document that non-employed youth with lower educationalattainment havea6.3 percentage point higher probability of being in the‘Resting’state compared tothose with higher educational attainment. Furthermore, youth with lower career adaptability are ③An increase in the period of non-employment by one year is associated witha4.0 percentage pointrise in the probability of being in the‘Resting’state, while the probabilityof‘Job seeking’falls by 3.1percentage points.The adverse impacts of a prolongedperiod ofnon-employmentare more pronounced ④Contrary to the viewattributingthe increase in the‘Resting’youth to high job expectations,thefindings of this paper indicate thatthe job expectations of the‘Resting’youth are not high, both inabsolute and relative terms.The mean of the reservation wage of the‘Resting’youth is about 31 millionKRW, which is similar tothat ofother types of non-employed youth.Furthermore, the‘Resting’youth exhibitthehighestpreference for‘Small and Medium-sized Enterprises(SMEs),’indicating lower job ⑤The policy design for the‘Resting’youth should place greater emphasis on incentivizing youth with alower educational attainment to re-enter the labor market.Career counseling programs arealsoneededto assist youth in formulating their future career plans and increasing adaptability to changes inoccupational ■Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect theofficial views of the Bank of Korea. Whenreporting or citing this paper, the authors’names should Ⅰ. Introduction Despite the recent stable trend in the number of employed persons and the unemployment rate[Figure 1],concerns about the Korean labor market aregrowing as the number of‘Resting’people continues to rise.Theproportionof the‘Resting’people within those not participating in the labor force has increased from The‘Resting’is a sub-category of the people not participating in the labor force (also known as theeconomically inactivepopulation), referring to those who, for nospecific reasons such as childcare or healthissues,arenotengaging in job seeking or education/training activities. Even within the non-employed status,the‘Resting’is a‘passive’state1, lacking specific actions. It is distinguished from‘active’states like job The increase in the number of the‘Resting’youth is often attributed to deterioratingemployment conditions,including job mismatches and agrowingpreferencefor experiencedhires. However, these factors alone donot fullyexplain the recent increase in those. There are also significant differencesin motivation, reasons,and future career plans among‘Resting’youth, dependingon individual characteristics and circumstances2. The remainder of this paper proceeds as follows: Section 2provides abrief overview of the recent trend inthe‘Resting’youth. In Section 3, weexamine the factors attributable to being in the‘Resting’state. Thecomparisonsbetween the‘Resting’youth and other types of unemployed youth arepresented in Section 4, II.Current Status of the‘Resting’Youth The increase in the‘Resting’youth appears primarily among those with prior workexperience. The‘Resting’youth with work experience has increased significantlyfrom0.36 million in 2019 to0.48 million in 2025[Figure3].This trend indicatesthat more youth leave the labor market after experiencing employment.By contrast, Looking at reasons forajobresignationamong the‘Resting’youth with work experience4,voluntaryresignation5accounts for themajority. However, recently, the‘Resting’youth whoresignfor involuntaryreasons have increased[Figure4]. Involuntaryresignationsspiked during the Covid-19 pandemicand haverisen Notably,‘Resting’youth who do not want a job7have significantly increased(287k in 2019→450k in2025)[Figure5]. This indicates an increase in the‘Resting’youth with a low probability of re-entering the labormarket. Incontrast, thenumber ofthe‘Resting’youth who want a job has remained at asimilar level, except While the employment