The Future Isn't At Home

"Brain Drain" is a phenomenon typically associated with aspirational folks in poor countries moving to richer ones for education and work.  But in 2019, with the fourth largest economy in Asia and an astounding college graduation rate of over 80 percent, many younger South Koreans can only find jobs (encouraged by their own government) outside of the nation:

"While India and other countries face similar challenges in creating jobs for skilled labor, the dominance of family-run conglomerates known as chaebol makes South Korea uniquely vulnerable.

The top 10 conglomerates including world-class brands such as Samsung and Hyundai, make up half of South Korea’s total market capitalization.

But only 13 percent of the country’s workforce is employed by firms with more than 250 employees, the second lowest after Greece in the OECD, and far below the 47 percent in Japan. 'The big companies have mastered a business model to survive without boosting hiring,' as labor costs rise and firing legacy workers remains difficult, said Kim So-young, an economics professor at Seoul National University.'"

It doesn't help matters that South Korea is also in the middle of an ongoing demographic crisis due to a lack of babies being born.  Every young person who moves abroad is likely to stay abroad, and more than likely to start a family away from Korea.