What retailers could learn from South Korea's youth employment

London - If you've ever been to South Korea you will certainly have visited one of the country's retail stores owned by the Shinsegae Group. They operate everything from luxury malls, stores and brands to Starbuck's in South Korea.

The equivalent of the UK's Arcadia Group, but then in the luxury sphere, Shinsegae plans to tackle South Korea's growing youth unemployment problem by hiring more than 20,000 workers by the end of next year. It is a bold move to revive consumption among the younger generation and aid unemployment.

This year, the group will employ 14,500 new workers, up 7.4 percent from 2014. The new recruits will join Shinsegae’s different business units, including E-Mart, Sinsegae Food and Starbucks Korea, as well as its subcontractors including Hermès Korea and Cheong Woo Confectionary.

This is part of a management plan Shinsegae released last year, dubbed “Vision 2023”, which pledged to recruit more than 10,000 employees every year for the next decade.

Nearly 1m British youth unemployed

In the UK, the youth unemployment landscape remains a growing problem for UK employers, educators and its young people. “With youth unemployment nearing 1 million, supporting young people into jobs - and sustainable jobs in particular - must be a foremost priority if the UK is to avoid a lost generation," states the CBI.

In South Korea, Shinsegae’s vice chairman Chung Yong-jin told The Korea Herald that the initiative aims to help resolve the worst youth unemployment rate since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

In the UK, youth unemployment has been an escalating problem since 2005, mostly attributable to issues of the economy.

If the UK's retail landscape were to provide opportunities to these youth it would help young people to value work of all entry levels. More importantly, investment in youth employment and engagement will support the needs of a competitive and successful economy for years to come.

Young people bring creativity, innovation, flexibility, high energy and an understanding of new and emerging technologies. They want to work. In retail especially, this energy is vital. Nobody likes to visit a shop floor with lacklustre service and bored staff.

Looking at the bigger picture, high levels of youth unemployment also has wider social and economic costs. The cost of youth unemployment over the next decade has been estimated at 28 billion pounds.

As the world struggles to deal with economic migrants, it also highlights the problems faced at home.

Images:Youth Unemployment