"I do want to get married" — but 40% still don't, saying "I have no home, no decent job"

[Financial News] A new analysis finds that people who say they are willing to marry are staying single mainly because of social and economic conditions.
On the 6th, the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) conducted a survey titled "Current State of Marriage and Changing Perceptions in Korea" of 1,251 people aged 19 to 49 who currently do not have a spouse, including those who are single, divorced, or widowed.
Researchers asked respondents why they had not yet married. Among them, 43.2% answered, "Because I have not found a suitable partner."
This was followed by responses such as "Because I cannot afford housing costs" (20.0%), "Because I have not yet secured a (stable) job" (19.5%), and "Because I still want to focus more on other things" (9.3%).
Experts noted that people without spouses are not remaining unmarried simply because they have not met the right person. They argued that a complex mix of social and economic conditions surrounding marriage is at work.
Eun-Jeong Kim, associate research fellow at KIHASA, said, "On the surface, not getting married because you have not found a suitable partner may look like an individual choice," but added, "In reality, it should be understood as the result of fewer opportunities to meet people and the combined impact of social and economic conditions."
Kim pointed to factors such as labor market instability and widening income gaps as constraints on opportunities to form relationships between men and women.
He explained, "According to existing research, in Korean society, economic resources such as income level and whether someone works for a large company have a major impact on the likelihood of dating," and predicted, "The recent instability of the labor market and income inequality are highly likely to act as factors that limit opportunities to form relationships."
He went on to stress, "The issue of there being too few suitable partners should be understood not as a matter of individual choice or perception, but as a structural problem of restricted opportunities to form relationships and constrained conditions for marriage."
He added, "Accordingly, policy should move beyond simply encouraging marriage and shift toward simultaneously expanding opportunities to meet potential partners and easing the conditions that make marriage possible."
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Su-yeon Reporter