Young Koreans living alone recorded a 29.7% poverty rate in an analysis of 2024 Korean Labor and Income Panel Study data, more than triple the 9.8% rate for young people in multi-person households. Yet their employment rate was 89.7%, compared with 52.5% for the comparison group, and the gap in employment probability remained 5.4 percentage points after controlling for age, education, training and region.
Researchers linked the poverty gap to the burden of paying housing and living costs alone at the start of a career, while noting that financial pressure may also push independent young people into work. The findings caution against using poverty rates alone to target support, because financially struggling young people living with their parents may be missed.