Investing in Youth: Korea

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Acronyms and abbreviations
Executive summary
	Key policy recommendations
Assessment and Recommendations
	How do youth fare in the Korean labour market?
	Supporting young people in a weakening labour market
	Reducing the gap between skill supply and demand
		Guiding students to improve educational choices
		Promoting upper secondary vocational education
		Ensuring quality tertiary education
		Supporting companies in altering their recruitment practices
	Improving support for young people
		Expanding the social safety net
		Offering adequate employment support for young unemployed
		Monitoring support for in-work poverty
		Facilitating access to affordable housing
	Addressing labour and product market duality
1 Youth employment and education in Korea
	1.1. Introduction
	1.2. The economic context
	1.3. The education and employment performance situation of Korean youth
		1.3.1. Youth labour market outcomes
		1.3.2. Educational investment
		1.3.3. The NEET challenge
		1.3.4. Job search and tenure
		1.3.5. Job quality and earnings
		1.3.6. Skill and study mismatch
	1.4. Youth poverty and well-being
	1.5. Wrap-up
	References
	Notes
2 Reducing the gap between skill supply and demand in Korea
	Introduction
	2.1. Guiding students to improve educational choices
		2.1.1. Strong societal preference for general education
		2.1.2. The government has increased investments in career counselling
		2.1.3. Relatively small adjustments could boost career counselling’s pay-offs
			Safeguarding the quality of career counselling
			Adapting to the needs of disadvantaged youth
			Involving employers
	2.2. Promoting upper secondary vocational education
		2.2.1. Skill shortages are common in SMEs and for occupations requiring an upper secondary education
		2.2.2. Several initiatives aim to make upper secondary vocational education more attractive
		2.2.3. The relevance of upper secondary vocational education needs to be strengthened
			Boost the relevance and quality of vocational upper secondary schools
			Broaden the scope of apprenticeships
			Lower the costs and increase the pay-offs from apprenticeships
	2.3. Ensuring quality tertiary education
		2.3.1. Korean tertiary education institutes vary greatly in quality
		2.3.2. The Korean government seeks to align tertiary education offers and market demands
		2.3.3. Quality assurance in tertiary education can be strengthened
			Continue to broaden university entry requirements
			Strengthen quality and labour market relevance through reporting
			Focalise institutions’ profiles and further co-operation with employers
			Integrate entrepreneurship education into tertiary curricula
	2.4. Supporting companies in altering recruitment practices
		2.4.1. Companies rarely use competency-based hiring
		2.4.2. National Competency Standards may help job candidates exhibit their skills and companies lower their recruitment costs
	2.5. Round-up and policy recommendations
		Create more intensive, inclusive and cooperative career counselling and guidance
		Redesign secondary vocational education and training to provide more practical skills
		Ensuring quality tertiary education
		Altering companies’ recruitment practices
	References
	Notes
3 Supporting youth in a weakening labour market
	3.1. Youth performance in a weakening labour market
	3.2. Improving support for young people
		3.2.1. OECD Action Plan for Youth
		3.2.2. Small but growing welfare system
		3.2.3. Social safety net for young people
			Employment Insurance is not very generous, except for low-wage youth
			One in three young workers are not covered by Employment Insurance
			Support provided by social assistance is very restricted
			A better social safety net for young adults is needed
		3.2.4. Effective employment support but with narrow reach
			Customised activation support needs to be further expanded
			In-work benefits are now available for youth
		3.2.5. Housing support targeted at youth
	3.3. Addressing labour market duality
		3.3.1. Balanced employment protection legislation
		3.3.2. Segmented product market
	3.4. Round-up and policy recommendations
		Expanding the social safety net for youth
		Offering adequate employment support for young unemployed
		Monitoring support for in-work poverty
		Facilitating access to affordable housing
		Addressing labour market duality
	References
	Notes
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