`I grew up middle class, but will soon enter the lower-income bracket`

“I had no difficulties growing up thanks to my father. I expected my life would go easy. But now...I`m not sure if I will have the opportunity to marry (before getting too old), let alone have a successful career.”

A 29-year-old man said this recently. Widely envied by his friends, he always received the highest grades, graduated from a foreign language high school, and studied at an Ivy League university in the U.S. His father, a dermatologist practicing in Seoul, supported him by paying 100 million won (94,700 U.S. dollars) a year for his son`s overseas study expenses.

When the man returned to Korea after finishing studying three years ago, however, the label "long-term jobless youth" was applied to him.

“I heard the news that a graduate of a prestigious university in the U.S. works part-time for 2 dollars per hour, but I never expected I`d face the same fate, though I majored in humanities, a major that companies do not favor..."

He said he submitted dozens of job applications but never received a phone call for an interview, adding, “The situation is totally different from that of my father’s generation. Without my parents’ support, I would effectively belong to the lower class.”

The traditional principle of joining the middle class, in which one can land a quality job and secure a stable life through hard work, is growing more invalid in Korea. The country`s ladder of success that has sustained Korean society since the 1960s is being swayed from its very roots.

The younger generation is not alone facing such a difficult situation. Even among older Koreans who joined the middle class, more than a few are falling out of the middle class due to the rise in early retirement caused by the protracted economic slump; failure to secure a stable income due to saturation of the market for the self-employed; a fall in asset value stemming from a stagnant real estate market; and a decline in financial gains due to low interest rates.

Kim Dong-yeol, a senior researcher at Hyundai Research Institute in Seoul, said, “The dismantlement of the middle class not only leads to an economic burden, including a slump in domestic consumption, and a hike in social welfare costs, but also generates general side effects, including deepening social conflict and political uncertainty over the long term,” adding, “Comprehensive actions are necessary to address this.”

jarrett@donga.com