The employment rate for people in their 20s fell in 2025 for the first time in five years as a shrinking population and a weak job market weighed on hiring, data showed Sunday. The employment rate for people in their 20s stood at 60.2 percent last year, down 0.8 percentage point from a year earlier, according to data released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics. It was the first on-year decline since 2020, when hiring slumped amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of employed people in their 20s totaled 3.44 million last year, down 170,000 from a year earlier. The decline has continued for three straight years and has been accelerating, widening from a drop of 82,000 in 2023 to 124,000 in 2024. The population decline has been cited as a key factor as the number of people in this age group has fallen for five consecutive years since 2021. But employment in the age bracket declined at a steeper pace than the population decrease, suggesting broader weakness in the labor market. "In the past, many people found jobs in their 20s, but there is now a growing tendency for people to wait until