Mixed Job Market Prospects After KORUS FTA

The single biggest issue in the Korean job market in the first half of this year was employment market prospects after the FTA agreement between Korea and the U.S. takes effect.

The recruiting portal site Career yesterday released the results of a survey titled “the 10 major news items in the job market for the first half the year” that it recently conducted on 1,875 job seekers. “Job market prospects after the FTA agreement became effective” (20.4 percent); “the craze surrounding making user created content (UCC) for one’s resume in the employment market” (17.9 percent); and “incredibly high competition rate of 116:1 in the first half of the year” (15.7 percent) were among the hottest issues selected by job hunters.

A spokesperson for the site said, “We got mixed views regarding the job market after the Korea-U.S. FTA agreement came into effect. 35.9 percent of those surveyed said that more jobs would be created thanks to the Korea-U.S. FTA agreement; meanwhile, 33.3 percent of those polled replied that there would be fewer new jobs.”

The craze about making UCC for one’s resume swept the country’s job market this year. Some 63 percent of personnel managers surveyed said that they would prefer UCC resumes to paper resumes under the same conditions presented by applicants.

Meanwhile, the new term “helicopter parents” caught on in the job market in the first half of the year. “Helicopter parents” refers to parents who keep meddling with their children’s lives by whirling around their children like a helicopter. Career noted that 68.7 percent of job seekers in their 20s were heavily influenced by their parents in the process of job searching.

In addition, among those surveyed, 31.9 percent of job applicants in their 20s consulted with their parents whenever they submitted a job application letter and 42.3 percent of them prepared to enter public service at one point at the suggestion of their parents.

swon@donga.com