Youth Employment Rate Falls for 28th Straight Month... Seoul Metropolitan Government Connects 100 Water-Industry Companies with Job Seekers

[Financial News] While overall employment indicators are improving, young people continue to face a difficult job market. The youth employment rate has declined for 28 consecutive months, and the number of employed young people has fallen by more than 140,000 from a year earlier. Seoul Metropolitan Government will hold a large-scale job fair to directly connect young people struggling to find work with water-industry companies facing difficulties securing workers.
Seoul Metropolitan Government said on the 16th that it will host the 2026 Seoul Water Job Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the 30th at Exhibition Hall 1 of the aT Center in Seocho-gu. More than 100 companies, public institutions and related organizations from the water industry will participate.
The event was organized to address the mismatch between job seekers and companies as both youth unemployment and labor shortages in the water industry continue to worsen.
According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ August 2026 Employment Trends report, the employment rate for people aged 15 to 29 was 44.1% last month, down 1.0 percentage point from the same month a year earlier. This contrasted with a 0.5-percentage-point increase in the employment rate for the overall 15-to-64 age group during the same period. The youth unemployment rate also rose 0.5 percentage point year on year to 5.4%, indicating worsening employment conditions for young people.\u00a0
With conditions for young job seekers showing little improvement, Seoul Metropolitan Government is working to reduce the employment mismatch by connecting them with water-industry companies struggling to recruit workers.\u00a0
The Seoul Water Job Fair is a specialized employment fair where visitors can meet companies and learn about jobs across the water industry, including construction, design and engineering, pipeline network management, water treatment and water-quality measurement. Rather than serving merely as a promotional event, it will bring together companies with actual hiring needs to provide recruitment consultations and conduct interviews on site.
Water-industry companies are having difficulty securing skilled workers because of an aging workforce and a decline in the inflow of new personnel. According to the Green Industry Workforce Status Report released last year by the Environmental Human Resources Development Committee, only 52.7% of water-industry companies that planned to hire within three years had filled all of their planned positions. “A lack of applicants” was the most common reason for unfilled positions, accounting for 41.7%.
Seoul Metropolitan Government therefore plans to operate the job fair with a focus on actual hiring, providing young people with employment opportunities in a new industry while helping companies secure the workers they need.
Major construction companies, including Hyundai Engineering and Construction, GS Engineering & Construction and Daewoo Engineering & Construction, will participate, along with companies from across the water industry, including design and engineering, pipeline network management, water treatment and water-quality measurement. Companies with hiring plans will provide consultations and conduct interviews with job seekers at on-site recruitment booths. Applicants can also obtain information directly from corporate human resources representatives about available positions, required skills, hiring plans and the actual work involved.
Programs to support job preparation will also be offered. Company-specific recruitment briefings and talks with current water-industry employees will introduce actual job duties and the skills required in the field. Special lectures on employment-related topics, including AI literacy and National Competency Standards (NCS), will also be held.
Individualized employment-support programs, including mock interviews, career consulting, job mentoring and AI matching, will be available. Services such as interview-outfit rentals, résumé photography, image consulting, and hair and makeup styling will also be provided.
Kwon Min, Director-General of Climate and Environment at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "The stable production and supply of Arisu, along with thorough water-quality management, requires the support of diverse water-industry technologies and the expertise of companies in areas such as water purification, water-quality analysis and pipeline network management. As technological development in the water industry and the securing of skilled workers are important foundations for improving the quality and competitiveness of future water services, I hope this job fair will serve as an opportunity to connect the industry with talented people."

[email protected] Seol Young Lee Reporter