KB News Desk
The younger generation of Koreans are bearing the brunt of a “jobless recovery” brought on by slower economic growth, President Lee Jae Myung said Friday at a meeting on youth policies.
Unlike the older generation that enjoyed ample opportunities in a society ungergoing fast economic growth, the young generation now is taking heat from the slowdown in growth with the country’s economy having advanced, Lee said.
“It seems that the era of youth we lived in is very different from the youth of today,” Lee told participants in a gathering of policymakers, researchers on youth policy, young entrepreneurs and civic group leaders held at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul.
“The older generation might have enjoyed opportunities and benefited significantly from them, it seems that opportunities have significantly diminished for the new generation.”
Lee also said the advent of the artificial intelligence technology, coupled with the slow economic growth, prompted a so-called “jobless recovery” in which a smaller amount of labor can still keep the economy going.
“We now live in a society where it is questionable whether growth will generate the same number of jobs that it did in the past,” Lee said.
The presidential office hosted the event to review the liberal administration’s policy to support the young generation and collect public opinion.
Lee’s approval rating hit its lowest point so far on Friday, with ratings among the under-30s among the lowest. Friday’s opinion poll by Gallup Korea showed that just 30 percent of those aged 18-29 had a positive assessment of Lee, compared with the overall figure of 44 percent.
