[Young Zone] Can Young People Outside the Seoul Metropolitan Area Meet "Godot"?

Job hunting: like waiting for someone who never calls
Relocation of public institutions and businesses, development of industrial complexes
Measures for balanced development must be implemented swiftly

When we look at the reality facing young people outside the Seoul metropolitan area who are hoping to find work, it is hard to shake the feeling that their situation resembles that of the two protagonists in Samuel Beckett's celebrated play Waiting for Godot. The two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly for Godot, whose very existence is uncertain. But Godot never appears, and the play ends with the two protagonists still waiting to meet him.

Transposed directly into real life, the two protagonists are like young people today, and Godot is akin to a job. As everyone knows, many young people in this era are racing ahead with their eyes fixed on employment, never knowing when or how it will come. The moment they find work may never arrive, just like Godot in the play. Many young people, myself included, live with the fear that this may be the case. The ending has yet to be decided, but I believe they are still fighting to hold on to their faith in the Godot each of them dreams of.

In some ways, this reality also seems to turn young people into mere "clowns." A clown is someone who entertains an audience and makes it laugh. They simply make people laugh, without knowing what reward or outcome will follow. Young people, too, do their utmost to win companies' approval. In particular, credentials known as "Computer Skills, TOEIC, and Korean History" are regarded as basic qualifications, but these alone are not enough to satisfy companies. So young people squeeze extracurricular activities and internships into their already limited free time. As competition intensifies, companies' expectations continue to rise without limit, and more and more young people are growing exhausted trying to meet them.

The bar for winning approval seems especially high for young people entering the job market outside the Seoul metropolitan area. This is reflected not only in their experience but also in various employment indicators, which show that young people outside the capital region face greater difficulty finding work than those in the Seoul metropolitan area. According to "Changes in the Workplace Characteristics of Young People as Seen Through a Youth Panel Survey," published in the eighth issue of the Korea Employment Information Service's Employment Trends Brief for 2025, released last November, it took young people living in the Seoul metropolitan area 21.2 months to find work, compared with 24.6 months for those living outside the region. The gap was also clear in the share of young people who took more than two years to go from preparation to employment: 43.4% outside the capital region, compared with 35.5% in the Seoul metropolitan area. The findings show that, whereas a person's place of residence once had little to do with their employment prospects, the employment downturn is causing job seekers to take longer to find work the farther they live from the capital region or the more likely they are to attend a university outside it.

Job seekers look over job postings at the “2026 KB Goodjob Busan Job Festival,” held at BEXCO in Haeundae-gu, Busan, on October 26. Yonhap News

Many young people also give up partway through or move to the Seoul metropolitan area because they cannot be sure they will find work outside it. A survey by the Korean Educational Development Institute released this year found that 48.4% of students from outside the capital region intended to seek work or transfer to a school in the Seoul metropolitan area after graduating from university. But even if young people move their lives to the capital region, their future remains uncertain, and the costs they must bear are higher. Housing and living expenses, along with fiercer competition in the job market, weigh on them. Young people who cannot afford these costs and have no choice but to stay outside the capital region cannot even take up the opportunity to make that move. They have reached the point of exhaustion, trusting at face value the government's promises to ease the burden of tuition and support regional universities, while waiting for changes that never come.

I believe things need to change. Now is the time for measures to promote balanced regional development to be implemented more quickly and decisively, including the relocation of public institutions that the government plans to pursue, and factories and industrial complexes that companies are considering establishing in regional areas. Attracting and relocating large companies and public institutions outside the capital region would broaden the scope of industry, while expanding job recruitment pathways that connect regional universities with businesses could bring the competition among young people to build up their credentials to an end. Housing and income disparities must also be addressed so that young people can build their lives in regional areas. If areas outside the Seoul metropolitan region can be transformed into new, open spaces, I believe new doors will open for young people, and they will be able to meet the "Godot" they have been waiting for.

Kim Dongjun, Department of Media and Communication, Kyungpook National University

[Young Zone]

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