One of the problems of the labor market in Korea since the financial crisis is the job-seeking difficulties of the youth and the rise in the number of the unemployed youth. In order to tackle this problem, the government has implemented extensive all-out plans but with no satisfactory results. The recent employment condition casted a shadow over the outlook for youth employment, and the government’s active and effective measures are highly required now.

This study investigates the status of youth unemployment, analyzes the cause, and at the same time seeks for effective policies to tackle this problem. As many researches have pointed out, the worsening employment conditions are attributable to the difference between the expectation of job seekers, such as excessive education (over qualification) backgrounds and the preference for stabilized workplace, or to the changes in the recruiting pattern of companies, such as the changes in industrial organization and the preference for workers with experience rather than inexperienced workers. As the effort to explain the causes of youth unemployment in the framework of labor supply and demand has revealed its limitations, there is a need to highlight the importance to study the recent job mismatch. Despite such need to analyze the job mismatch from the economic perspective, there have been no sufficient empirical analyses, thus far. In this regard, this study, faithfully based on the theory of job mismatch, suggests the results of its empirical analysis and then concludes with the policy direction based on the analysis results.

The results of this study can be briefly summarized as follows: The elasticity of employment with respect to the job offer probability turned out high, while that with respect to the implicit opportunity cost caused by unemployment turned out low. This means that the policy to improve the youth unemployment rate needs to focus on labor demand, rather than labor supply. Under this context, various policies and measures that have been implemented in the past to tackle youth unemployment are con-side red unsatisfactory. Therefore, future policies to enhance youth employment should include active job placement, active operation of workplace experience programs promoted by the private sector, extensive measures and systematic management for the unemployed youth, and reinforced policy promotion.

제1장 서 론

제2장 청년층 미취업 현황 및 선행연구
　제1절 청년층 노동시장의 국제비교
　제2절 우리나라 청년층 노동시장의 특징
　　1. 미취업 청년층 비중의 증가
　　2. 청년층 노동시장의 경기 비중립성
　　3. 하향취업
　제3절 청년층 실업에 대한 선행연구

제3장 청년층 실업에 대한 이론적 논의
　제1절 노동의 공급과 수요의 변화에 따른 가능성
　　1. 인구구조의 변화와 상대적 노동공급의 변화
　　2. 산업구조 변화에 따른 청년층 노동수요 변화
　제2절 일자리 매칭
　　1. 일자리 매칭이론
　　2. 자료 및 실증분석

제4장 정책제언
　제1절 외국의 청년실업대책과 시사점: 영국과 일본을 중심으로
　제2절 우리나라 미취업 청년층을 위한 정책적 제언
　　1. 적극적 직업알선제도
　　2. 직업훈련 연계형 민간주도 직장체험 프로그램
　　3. 청년층 고용대책의 체계적 추진 및 홍보 강화

제5장 결 론

참고문헌
부 록