Part-time Job Market

[Anchor Lead]

Growing youth unemployment is having impacts on the market for part-time jobs. Although winter break is a month away, job seekers, college students and even high school students are scrambling to find part-time jobs.

[Pkg]

This bakery in a residential district is open 16 hours a day. Eight staff members in total work on morning, afternoon and weekend shifts. Among them, three are college graduates seeking jobs.

[Soundbite] Park Young-taek(Bakery Owner) : "There are many students who want to work part-time while studying to land jobs.They are not students, exactly, because they have graduated. There are many young people like that."

High school students who have taken the college entrance exam are also seeking part-time jobs. Competition for short-term work is fierce, as job seekers and even high school students are eyeing posts occupied by college students who work during the school term in order to earn tuition. Jobs at coffee shops and bakeries are especially popular, as they offer opportunities for part-timers to learn work skills.

[Soundbite] Foreign Student(Voice modified) : "It is really difficult, in fact. I visited several places, but sevento eight Korean students are waiting for a vacancy at each spot."

The competition is expected to grow even stiffer next year when the minimum hourly wage jumps 7.3 percent, forcing employers to hire fewer part-timers due to the burden of labor costs. A silent war is being waged for jobs, as competition even for part-time positions grows fiercer, in addition to the serious downturn in youth employment.