November 23, 2024

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(Yonhap)

More than 70 percent of millennials and members of Generation Z in South Korea believe that wealth and income are distributed unequally throughout society, a survey showed on June 22.

Millennials are people born between 1983 and 1994, and members of Generation Z were born between 1995 and 2003.

The survey, released by Deloitte Anjin, showed that some 73 percent of millennials and 76 percent of Gen Zers in Korea recognized wealth and income inequality as a major concern. Of the global millennials, 69 percent gave the same answer and so did 66 percent of the global Gen Zers.

While millennials and Gen Zers in Korea pointed to laws, regulations and policies that maintain a system favoring business and the wealthy as key factors behind inequality, they maintained a conservative stance toward government intervention in resolving inequality, Deloitte Anjin said.

“Korean millennials and Gen Z’s support of drafting of bills that could close the gap between employees and employers, levy heavier tax on the wealthy, protect minimum wage and other forms of government intervention were noticeably lackluster compared with global respondents,” the report said.

Besides income inequality, Korean millennials and Gen Zers mentioned health issues tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic growth and jobs as their main concerns. But while millennials here prioritized climate change over job and career concerns, Gen Zers expressed more worries about employment. Some 30 percent of Gen Zers picked career as a major issue, while 25 percent of millennials did.

The Korean respondents projected a rosier economic outlook for the near future compared with last year, despite expressing significant concerns about personal welfare. Some 22 percent of millennials said the economy would improve “in the next 12 months” compared with 13 percent last year, while 21 percent of Gen Z responded the same way compared with 14 percent last year.

The percentage of global millennials who said the economy would improve declined by 1 percentage point on-year this year to 27 percent.

“In past years, the Millennial Survey has revealed that these younger generations want to work for companies with a purpose beyond profit -- companies that share their values -- and that they feel more empowered to make a difference as part of organizations,” the global survey released in English by Deloitte said.

“Knowing that, business leaders should actively help millennials and Gen Zs channel their determination and focus their efforts to create the future they seek -- a future that’s more responsible regarding the planet, more empathetic toward populations around the world, and more supportive of equality.”

The survey focused on the views of Korean millennials and Gen Zers, extracting data from its parent group’s study on global millennials and Gen Z.

The global survey involved 22,928 people in 45 nations, including Korea. Of the total, 502 were Korean. The survey was conducted Feb. 8-18.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)