A young man who ‘took a break’ postponed forming a family… Only 1 out of 2 people say, “I will get married.”

It was found that only half of the unmarried young people who were 'rested' said they were thinking of getting married.

It is the lowest level among all youth groups, and it was analyzed that their pessimistic perception of the future is a factor in delaying family formation.

The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs announced on the 9th that Lim Ji-young, a specialist researcher in the Population Policy Research Department, published a report titled ‘Future prospects and family formation of unmarried young people who took a break’.

'Rested' is one of the activity status classifications of the economically non-active population in the Economically Active Population Survey and refers to people who do not have a serious disease or disability, but are in a vague state of wanting to rest.

According to the report, as a result of the analysis of the 2024 Family and Childbirth Survey, the proportion of unmarried young people aged 19 to 34 who took a break was 5.5%.

Their ages were 34.0% between 19 and 24 years old, 44.8% between 25 and 29 years old, and 21.2% between 30 and 34 years old. People over 25 years old accounted for two-thirds.

70.8% of unmarried young people had some work experience. This means that many people entered the labor market but left it due to unstable conditions. The average period of leaving the labor market is 12.5 months, and the average number of jobs is 1.69.

Their previous jobs were less stable than other youth groups. In particular, among unmarried young men who took a break, only 22.4% were full-time workers at their previous job.

Among employed young people, the proportion of full-time workers rises steeply as they age, but among unmarried youth aged 30 to 34 (36.6%), the ratio of full-time workers at their previous job was lower than that of those aged 25 to 29 (38.9%).

Researcher Lim explained, “It is a characteristic that clearly distinguishes unmarried young people from other groups,” adding, “At a time when the majority of employed young people are entering regular employment, they quit their non-regular jobs and leave the labor market, putting them in an unstable situation.”

Unmarried young people tended to be pessimistic about the future.

Their current level of happiness was 2.9 out of 4, similar to that of the unemployed group looking for a job, and their happiness outlook after 5 years was the lowest at 3.1 points.

This section shows that the unemployed group views the current difficulties as temporary and views the future more positively, while the rested group predicts that the current difficulties will continue.

Rested, unmarried young people also had the lowest intention to form a family.

Their intention to marry was 52.1%, and their intention to have children was 60.4%, the lowest among unmarried youth groups. Intention to marry was highest among employed young people (72.1%).

Researcher Lim said, “It appears that single young people who took a break are the group with the most pessimistic outlook on the future of individuals and society, and also the group with the lowest intention to form a family.” He added, “The low intention to form a family among young unmarried people who took a break is more in the nature of ‘reservation’ than giving up.”

He went on to suggest, “Because their decline in intention to form a family stems from pessimism about the future, there is a need to restore expectations for a livable society and design policies to help them when they want to form a family.”