Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City Youth Achieve Qualitative Growth in Employment and Income, Marking a Visible Slowdown in Population Decline

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that, based on analyses of official statistics and private-sector big data, clear positive changes have emerged across employment, income, and living indicators, alongside a slowdown in the decline of the youth population compared to 2020.

Based on the nation’s first analysis of income- and credit-based population big data, Busan’s youth (ages 20–39) have shown qualitative changes as they move away from unemployment and unstable jobs toward more stable wage employment and a structure centered on earned income.

Compared to 2022, the share of unemployed youth fell by 10.0 percentage points in 2025 (44.8% in 2022 → 34.8% in 2025), while the share of youth with earned income rose by 7.1 percentage points (37.9% in 2022 → 45.0% in 2025), indicating strengthened employment stability.

This suggests that youth employment in Busan is undergoing qualitative growth beyond a simple increase in the number of employed persons, improving toward an economically active population supported by stable income.

In addition, youth and middle-aged people moving into Busan were analyzed as having higher levels of actual discretionary funds than those moving out, with strengthened mid-tier demographics due to an inflow of high-income earners in their 30s and the maintenance of top-tier incomes among people in their 40s.

Over the past three years, resident youth have shown more stable incomes and higher household financial leeway than the mobile population, indicating that the foundation for economic stability is expanding.

This employment growth is clearly confirmed in employment indicators. The employment rate for Busan’s youth (ages 18–39) rose by 7.6 percentage points over the past five years, from 58.0% in 2020 to 65.6% in 2024, showing clear quantitative growth. Among employed persons, the share of permanent employees increased by 2.3 percentage points, from 65.3% to 67.5%, indicating that qualitative growth centered on stable wage employment has been achieved alongside the expansion in the number of employed persons.

This increase in the youth (ages 18–39) employment rate is 1.69 percentage points higher than the national average increase of 5.9 percentage points (62.0% in 2020 → 67.9% in 2024), ranking first among the eight major cities and showing that Busan’s improvement was relatively large.

Key employment indicators for Busan’s youth
(Unit: thousand persons, %, percentage points)

Year
Youth (ages 18–39) working-age population | Employed | Employment rate | Wage employees | Non-wage employees | Permanent | Temporary/daily
2020: 886.6 | 513.8 | 58.0 | 447.8 | 335.2 | 112.6 | 66.0
2024: 796.5 | 522.4 | 65.6 | 468.3 | 352.8 | 115.5 | 54.1
Change: -90.1 | 8.6 | 7.6 | 20.5 | 17.6 | 3.0 | -11.9

The improving trend in employment indicators is also confirmed in official national statistics on employment trends.

Over the past five years, among Busan’s youth ages 15–29, the labor force participation rate rose by 2.0 percentage points (44.6% in 2021 → 46.6% in 2025), the employment rate rose by 2.9 percentage points (41.2% in 2021 → 44.1% in 2025), and the unemployment rate fell by 2.2 percentage points (7.7% in 2021 → 5.5% in 2025), showing an improving trend compared to the national level.

However, employment-trend statistics provide only the employment rate for ages 15–24 or 15–29, which does not match the target age range (18–39) of Busan Metropolitan City’s youth policies. Accordingly, Busan Metropolitan City reconstructs age criteria by using the raw data of official statistics and produces and utilizes customized youth employment indicators aligned with policy needs.

In terms of housing and living conditions, youth perceptions of Busan’s competitiveness were found to have improved markedly, and accordingly, young people’s intention to settle in Busan is also being formed at a high level.

In 2024, the owner-occupancy rate among Busan’s youth (ages 19–34) was 52.5%, reaching 1.4 times the level of Seoul (38.8%). This is attributed to Busan’s relatively low housing-cost burden relative to income (home price-to-income ratio, PIR). As of 2025, the PIR was 7.45 in Busan and 8.69 in Seoul, meaning Busan is about 86% of Seoul’s level.

In addition, the share of commutes and school trips under 30 minutes was 46.4% in Busan, which is 6.6 percentage points higher than the Seoul Capital Area average of 39.8% (Seoul 34.4%, Incheon 42.0%, Gyeonggi 43.1%), showing a relative strength in job–housing proximity and work–life balance.

These advantages in housing and mobility conditions also translate into daily life experiences: leisure activities among Busan’s youth (ages 19–39) (leisure time 5.2 hours; leisure spending KRW 295,000) were higher than those in the Seoul Capital Area (leisure time 3.9 hours; leisure spending KRW 245,000), and leisure satisfaction was also higher at 77.1% compared to 64.6% in the Seoul Capital Area.

Based on this time and financial leeway, in 2025, Busan’s youth (ages 15–39) showed overall higher satisfaction and lower dissatisfaction across all working-condition items compared to 2021.

In particular, satisfaction with the working environment rose by 9.6 percentage points, and satisfaction with wages and income rose by 8.3 percentage points, clearly confirming policy effects at the level of youth perceptions.

Satisfaction with working conditions among Busan’s youth (ages 15–39)
(Unit: %, percentage points)

Year | Job | Wages/Income | Working hours | Working environment | Overall satisfaction
2021 Satisfaction 51.8 / Dissatisfaction 9.7 | 38.2 / 21.4 | 44.4 / 14.5 | 47.1 / 11.9 | 46.9 / 10.2
2025 Satisfaction 59.0 / Dissatisfaction 6.6 | 46.5 / 14.9 | 51.5 / 10.1 | 56.7 / 7.5 | 55.6 / 6.0
Change 7.2 / -3.1 | 8.3 / -6.5 | 7.1 / -4.4 | 9.6 / -4.4 | 8.7 / -4.1

With a strong living environment, 81.4% of job-seeking youth (age 39 or younger) hoped to work in Busan (only 5.4% hoped for the Seoul Capital Area), and 8 out of 10 youth (ages 19–34) expressed an intention to settle in Busan, indicating that competitiveness as a “city worth settling in” is strengthening.

Over the past five years, qualitative growth in employment and income has reduced the decline in Busan’s youth population (ages 18–39) to about half (from 33,000 people in 2021 to 17,000 people in 2025), while the big-data-based active population has continued to be maintained, suggesting that a structural easing trend is taking shape.

Net outflow among youth (ages 18–39) showed an overall downward trend, falling from 7,262 people in 2021 to 6,375 people in 2025. This represents a reduction of more than half (52%) compared to 2018, when net outflow was at its highest.

According to an analysis of population mobility volume based on big data, Busan’s active population index is 2.6, indicating that the actual active population (about 8.38 million) is 2.6 times larger than the registered resident population (3.27 million).

Active population index of Busan, Incheon, and Gyeongsangnam-do (2023–2025)

Category | Registered resident population (10,000 persons) | Mobile population mobility volume (10,000 persons) | Active population index
Busan: 327 | 838 | 2.6
Incheon: 302 | 680 | 2.2
Gyeongsangnam-do: 323 | 749 | 2.3

Active population index = (Mobile population mobility volume ÷ Registered resident population)

Along with Seoul, Gwangju, and Jeju (2.6), this is among the highest levels nationwide, showing that Busan has successfully improved beyond the frame of resident population size to become a “dynamic, activity-centered city” with active stays and visits.

Mayor Park Heong-joon said, “These indicator analysis results show that the flow of Busan’s youth population is in the process of structural change, in which improvements in income and job quality are advancing together,” adding, “Going forward, we will continue to strengthen jobs, housing, and overall living conditions in a more meticulous way through data-driven policies so that young people can stay in Busan, nurture their dreams, and grow.”