More young South Koreans take up flexible jobs

Young South Korean workers are increasingly taking up flexible jobs such as gig roles, those with short-term contracts and freelance jobs.

Some 58.6% of respondents said that they were willing to be gig workers, out of 2,848 people surveyed in June. Of those, 79.2% cited the freedom to choose their working hours as the top reason, followed by 40.7% who liked the freedom from corporate culture and relationships, revealed the survey by job search portal Saramin, reports The Chosunilbo.

Subscriptions to Kmong, an online marketplace for services, have risen from around 100,000 in 2019 to over 300,000 at present. An employee from the platform told the publication that over 70% of its members are in their 20s and 30s, and 73,000 freelancers who signed up over the last three years were between the ages of 24 and 33.

READ: More work flexibility called for in South Korean workplace

On the other hand, Soomgo, another online service marketplace, has seen the number of freelancers on its platform rising from 340,000 in 2019 to 1.04 million in 2022.

Some 2.2 million South Koreans found jobs through online platforms in the last three months and 55.2% of them were in their 20s and 30s, according to data from the Ministry of Employment and Labour.