Korean employees still seek fulfilling work

Four out of five Korean workers said their current job is not something they look forward to doing for the rest of their lives.

According to JobKorea, Korea’s major job information portal, only 19 percent of 1,205 survey respondents said the job they have is one they will have forever. Some 46 percent of respondents said the job they have is not the one they will have for the rest of their lives and another 34.6 percent said they have another dream job in mind.

Just 8.7 percent of survey respondents said they have found the job they can do for a long period, while 72 percent disagreed. Some 19.3 percent wished for that job.

“It appears that the idea of a permanent job is disappearing here in Korea,” JobKorea said in a press release on Friday. JobKorea said 51.3 percent of 2,983 both job-seekers and workers said the idea of a permanent job no longer exists. Only 21.6 percent disagreed and 27.1 percent said jobs with public institutions and the government are the only ones offering permanency.

In fact, in JobKorea’s other survey of 1,778 job-seekers, some 77 percent said they are still seeking a job they can enjoy.

“The study showed that job seekers are not expecting the job they will get will be something they can do for the rest of their lives as well,” said JobKorea. More than 64 percent of job seekers felt that way.

Only two in five Korean workers said that their current jobs are stable. Just 7.1 percent of survey respondents said their job is “very stable” and 34.4 percent called their job “somewhat stable.” On the other hand, 19.3 percent said their job is very unstable.

The data showed that Korean workers felt unstable the older they were. About 70 percent of workers in their 40s worried about getting fired, while only 45.4 percent in their 20s felt that way.

BY KIM YOUNG-NAM [kim.youngnam@joongang.co.kr]