In 2018, the unemployment rate in the Republic of Korea hit its highest level since the Global Financial Crisis, peaking at 4.4 percent.

With many companies using the raising minimum wage to cut various traditionally low-paying jobs due to rising costs of labor, the unemployment rate has risen to reflect this concept.

Lobby groups representing many small businesses within the country have since made statements saying that they will not accept the raise in minimum wage due to them needing to cut staff jobs in order to make a profit.

[7] This, combined with the idea that contracts will end once the task is completed, contributes immensely to the growing unemployment rate at any one time of the survey.

The continuous increase of the minimum wage in the Republic of Korea has prompted firms to relocate their factories overseas to lower-wage rate countries in order to save costs.

Samsung has recently generated a substantial amount of media coverage for outsourcing to China, where workers are paid less for longer hours.

For example, Lotte Department Stores, one of the largest retailers in Korea, has recently built a technologically-driven counter service system, replacing sales staff.

[6] Despite the rapid technological advancements of workplaces in South Korea, In January 2019 it was reported that the ICT sector had gained 94,000 new job openings in that month alone.

[10] A multitude of practices concerning gender inequality has led to a larger unemployment rate of women in the workforce in South Korea.

[12] Economists put this large gap down to traditional Confucian beliefs continuing to hold strong within Korean society, where the family unit is the most important aspect of one's life.

[15] According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), approximately 70 per-cent of 25-34 year olds in the Republic of Korea have completed some form of tertiary education.

[17] The graduates of top Korean Universities overwhelmingly hold high-ranking positions within government, business and industry.

The hyper-competitive nature of the Korean education system prompts some students to study over 16 hours a day at school, before-school and after-school programs called hagwons (학원).

The Republic of Korea's 'economically inactive' population is thought to be hiding a large number of individuals that are employed to the standards of the International Labour Organisation, but not the official Korean measurement system.

In accordance with the International Labour Organisation standards, unpaid family workers who work more than one hour per week are categorized as employed.