This is South Korea. A place that paradoxically is one of the richest but also one of the unhappiest countries in the world. This is especially true if you’re a young student facing extreme societal pressure to go to a top university or a fresh graduate looking for a well-paying job that unfortunately just didn’t exist.

Because finding a job is so hard and stressful. The health ministry said that at least 5% of the entire South Korean population had once tried to physically or psychologically isolate themselves. Like cutting off all social relations and not leaving home for months.

Meanwhile, about 25% of all South Koreans have experienced some sort of mental illness, facing high levels of stress, along with symptoms of anxiety or depression in Korea’s young people.

But why did this happen? How is it that a country so economically successful can be so unhappy and depressing? Well, because beneath the glinting lights and the apparent economic success of South Korea, there exists a deep-rooted economic and cultural issue that caused all of these anxiety, depression, and deaths among Korea’s younger population. Today, we’re going to explore this extremely sad problem.

So, what are the underlying issues behind South Korea’s youth unemployment? How did these issues contribute to the country’s concerning trend of growing mental health problems? This is the dark side of South Korea.

Sources:
https://one.oecd.org/document/ECO/WKP... OECD Working Paper
https://keia.org/the-peninsula/low-yo... Labor market dualism
https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?... Unemployed youth giving up on job searching
https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/suic... OECD suicide rates
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna-i... CNA Insider Interview
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/hikik... Wired article Hikikomori

0:00 - Intro
2:12 - South Korea's Hidden Economic Issues
4:46 - Labor Market Segmentation
9:41 - Education Bubble
11: 14 - South Korea's Mental Health Issues

Music by Epidemic Sound

Stock Footage by Storyblocks

#South Korea #Finance #Doverhill

about economics explained, about Finance and how money works, on South Korea's youth unemployment and its hidden economic issues, This is an economics/finance video