Youth is a life stage of transition from adolescence to adulthood, during which individuals develop independence in education, employment, relationships, and housing. Some young people, however, are excluded from what may otherwise be regarded as a normative transition into adulthood because they have a migrant background, are economically inactive or indebted, experience social isolation or withdrawal, or are responsible for caring for family members. Hence, this month’s issue of Health and Welfare Forum explores, through six articles, the multiple risks contributing to young people’s vulnerability and examines youth welfare policies as a social safety net for addressing these challenges. The first article examines the structural challenges facing young people with a migrant background―individuals who were raised in multicultural families or were born abroad and migrated to Korea―and discusses the effects of related policies. In the next article, we review the physical and mental health issues that make it difficult for some young people to enter the labor market and discuss ways to improve young people’s access to health-promotion programs. The third article examines the current state of debt among young people and discusses policy options for supporting young people who are financially vulnerable. The article that follows focuses on the experiences of young adults who are not employed and explores policy options that can be implemented in the industrial context to support young people who are less likely to seek employment. The fifth article provides a multidimensional account of socially isolated and withdrawn young adults and their experiences of loneliness, and considers how to help them reconnect with society and participate in social life. The final article demonstrates how the crises that a young individual may experience can be multidimensional and multilayered in nature and goes on to discuss ways to institute youth welfare policies to support young people so that they can live independent lives and participate fully in society as its members. A crisis can befall anyone. Young people are no exception. We hope for a society in which, even in the face of crisis, reliable policies enable each young person to gain an independent adult life and live alongside others as a citizen who fulfills their share of responsibilities.

This article examines gaps in labor market entry and access to youth policy among young adults aged 19-24 with a migration background, a group explicitly identified as a policy target in South Korea's Second Basic Plan for Youth Policy (2026-2030). The analysis draws on microdata mainly from the National Survey of Multicultural Families and the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study, together with in-depth interviews. Compared with their peers in the general youth population, employed young adults with a migration background were substantially more likely to hold temporary or daily jobs and earned less on average; employment instability was most pronounced among those who had migrated to Korea during childhood or adolescence. Awareness and use of youth policies were concentrated in the field of education access through schools, whereas employment, housing, and start-up programs were little known and rarely used. The interviews pointed to two unmet needs: hands-on help in navigating available policies and sustained support through the transition into stable work. The article recommends extending the eligible age range, strengthening coordination among delivery agencies to provide tailored support, and adding migration-background identifiers to national youth surveys.

The aim of this article is to examine the health of young individuals who have been marginalized within existing youth policy frameworks and to explore community-based approaches to promoting youth health. This analysis focuses on three groups of vulnerable youth―young people with family caregiving responsibilities, socially withdrawn young adults, and young people transitioning from institutional care to independent living―and, using data from the Youth Living Conditions Survey, examines their health behaviors, mental health and substance use, self-rated health status, and healthcare utilization. Our analysis found that, in all three groups, the prevalence of depressive symptoms and the proportion reporting fatigue were significantly higher than in the general youth population. These groups also reported lower self-rated health status and higher rates of unmet healthcare needs. The prevalence of risk behaviors, including smoking, high-risk alcohol consumption, and drug use, varied across groups and by sex. Young people vulnerable to health risks have nevertheless often been excluded from health promotion programs due to their low motivation to participate and the challenges of identifying and engaging them. Accordingly, this study identifies several priority areas for action, including identifying and reaching at-risk young adults through partnerships with Youth Future Centers and integrated case-management programs, and developing programs that reflect their specific needs. Health promotion programs for vulnerable young adults should be regarded not merely as a form of welfare assistance, but as an important policy instrument for advancing health equity.

This article examines the current state of indebtedness among young adults aged 19-34 and discusses the effectiveness and limitations of the debt adjustment system. Youth indebtedness results from the combined financial demands associated with the transition to adulthood, including student loans, housing costs, and living expenses. It is characterized less by the overall amount of debt than by structural vulnerabilities such as low creditworthiness, multiple outstanding debts, and medium-term delinquency. Delinquency rates are rising more rapidly among young adults than among any other age group. Debt problems are becoming increasingly persistent for young people as their entry into the labor market is delayed and, consequently, the attainment of stable income is postponed. Compared to non-users, those who reported using a debt adjustment program saw significant improvements in debt reduction, the management of depressive symptoms, and inter-personal relationships, although no improvements were found in objective employment indicators, such as the number of new labor-market entrants or income. In practice, the effectiveness of the debt adjustment system is found to be constrained by high entry barriers, complex procedures, regional disparities in implementation, and a lack of follow-up management. This article suggests that improving the debt adjustment system requires establishing a comprehensive counseling system to assist individuals before they enter the system, strengthening follow-up management, and revising performance indicators.

Using data from the Economically Active Population Survey 2022-2026, this article examines changes in employment among young people aged 19-34 and the job-search intentions and usual activity status of the economically inactive in this population. The employment rate increased from 2022 through 2024 but declined or remained unchanged from the second half of 2024 onward. The decline in the employment rate was particularly pronounced among both men and women aged 20-24, while women aged 30-34 saw increases in employment, indicating considerable heterogeneity within the young population. The decline in employment was accompanied not so much by an increase in unemployment as by an increase in economic inactivity. Of the economically inactive population, the proportion classified as ‘extended unemployed’, which includes those willing to seek employment, declined by a greater margin during the period of falling employment. Amid declining willingness to seek employment among unemployed and economically inactive youth, this article also examines the characteristics of young adults who describe their being out of employment as “taking a break” and the underlying industrial context.

In this study, I analyze the current state and characteristics of social isolation, social withdrawal, and loneliness among young adults from the perspective of social connectedness and consider policy measures to address these issues. Using data from the 2025 Social Survey, this study examines social isolation among young adults in terms of a lack of social interaction and support networks, social withdrawal in terms of the frequency of outings, and subjective loneliness. Compared with 2019, social isolation had increased among young adults, with individuals with disabilities, those who were not employed, and those at the older end of the young adult age range being more likely to experience social isolation. Although social withdrawal and loneliness were in part associated with social isolation, they differed in their characteristics and underlying mechanisms, suggesting the need for distinct approaches to addressing each. Social withdrawal was associated with multiple interrelated factors, including those concerning economic activity, interpersonal relationships, and health. Support services also carried the risk that users could experience renewed social isolation. This study proposes several policy measures, including establishing an integrated, community-based service delivery system, developing specialized personnel and long-term support mechanisms, and providing support for work experience opportunities through protected employment arrangements.

This article considers how gaps between general youth policies and social security policies can be bridged through welfare policies in response to the multidimensional challenges faced by today’s young adults. Social withdrawal, social isolation, activity limitations, single parenthood, disability, migrant backgrounds, transitions from institutional care to independent living, family caregiving responsibilities, and credit delinquency are among the risk factors that may hinder young individuals’ transition into independent living. When two or more of these factors occur simultaneously, they are likely to make affected individuals’ future prospects more precarious across various dimensions of life, including health, work, income, relationship formation, and marriage. Drawing on a comparison with the Finnish case, where open-access universal programs for young people in general and targeted social services for young people at risk in particular, although distinct in their roles, operate in complementary and interconnected ways, this study further explores measures for establishing a young people-friendly support delivery system that ensures no one in crisis is left without assistance.