| Wee So-yeon |
Korea has been through an extraordinary economic success often referred to as the miracle on the Han River. This was a blossoming moment of the country with apparent economic progress being made, surprising the whole world by becoming a powerful country from one of the poorest countries of the time. However, such incredible growth in the economy now seems to have reached the end, Korea stuck in a stagnant point.
One of the most critical consequences of this sluggish economy is that there are not enough opportunities offered for youth in the labor market and the millennial generation suffers from the limited opportunities given. The youth unemployment rate has reached 10.5 percent in 2018 and the situation is expected to get worse without any sign of improvement.
This phenomenon is something new for the baby boom generation since in the 80s and 90s, there were handful of job opportunities offered for the young. Back then, most of the university offices had tons of application forms waiting to be filled in. However, the economic situation has changed greatly and youth unemployment has become one big concern.
The young generation has often been accused of the high youth unemployment rate, youth not willing to work for small or mid-sized companies and only considering positions in big corporations. Nevertheless, the number of employees those companies can hire is limited and there aren't enough jobs for all to work in such companies.
Millennials are not the only cause but it is evident that economic stagnation of Korea is another factor to the phenomenon. GDP annual growth rate before 2000s averaged about 10 percent but the current annual growth rate is only 2 percent apparently proving the economic stagnation of the country unable to create employment.
Automation of process and advent of artificial intelligence also accelerated the situation. As a country that depends greatly on manufacturing industries, automation has enabled the companies to produce more and faster without hiring new workers. Cost minimization strategy by using machines may have contributed to increasing the profit but also have taken away the work positions for humans, the young not given a chance to start their career.
So, to escape from this crisis, what can we do? Rather than passively waiting for the changes to be made, the young generation can actively participate in creating new jobs, creating the very ones that they would be willing to work for. Youth entrepreneurship is the key to create innovation needed in this moment.
Young entrepreneurs should be supported to the fullest to overcome the current difficulties. However, Korea is yet prepared to form an adequate environment for them to prosper.
First of all, not only the young generation but also the old generation consider young entrepreneurship to be too risky. The whole society pursues to take a safer path when deciding career and often discourages the potential entrepreneurs willing to take the adventure and pave their own path. Rather than chasing what is considered to be safe and sound, it is now time to take the risk and go for it.
The government and schools also have to support the young entrepreneurs by establishing realistic support for the young starting their own ventures.
Schools should start by providing practical courses where students can realize their creative ideas to start their start-ups. Although Seoul National University and other prestigious universities have started offering business courses focused on entrepreneurship, the courses are mostly consisted of lectures given by successful entrepreneurs.
However, the focus should move more on to giving actual opportunities for students to think of an idea and realize it in class. In the case of MIT, they offer practical courses such as MIT bootcamps where students can actually launch their business. Moreover, those courses should not be offered only for prestigious universities but should be something common for all universities regardless of their reputation.
Financial support is what can never be ignored since it is the very key to the success of the ventures.
In the case of Korea, there are some financial systems that support the funding of small or mid-sized companies in general but none supported the young ventures specifically until this September when Seoul decided to offer a funding which specifically aims to help young entrepreneurs. However, this is just the first step Korea has made to support the young ventures and more should be done to expand it.
In order to reach a turning point in the middle of economic stagnation, innovation was always emphasized as the key. This innovation can be achieved successfully by the young who have incredible creativity that now lacks support.
When the support is made and young entrepreneurship is facilitated to its fullest, the young generation can again lead the economic progress, repeating the miracle the past generation has made.
Wee So-yeon is a student at Ewha Womans University.