Credit: Public domain.
South Korea often borrows neologisms from Japan, reflecting broad similarities between the two advanced economies in East Asia. One such term is “freeter 프리터”, a portmanteau of the English word “freelancer” and German word “arbeiter (laborer)” that denotes young people who exclusively works in part time jobs that do not build into a career.
According to a survey by JobKorea, a job search site, 60.6% of its users described themselves as a freeter. Most freeters are young: among self-described freeters, 85.7% were in their 20s or 30s. Among the freeters in their 20s and 30s, 44.8% said they chose to be freeters for the sake of freedom; the remainder said they became freeters because they could not find a steady job. Most freeters (27.6%) made between KRW 500k to 1m (USD 360 to 720) per month.
