30-somethings say, "Seniors have it easy." 50-somethings say, "Raising kids gave me burnout."

The movie "The Intern" released over a decade ago presents an ideal solution in terms of generational conflict over jobs. A successful 30-year-old female CEO creates an "inclusive job program" for social contribution and hires a 70-year-old man as an intern. The two, initially awkward due to their age and status differences, build trust through communication, and the rich experience and wise advice of the "senior intern" illuminate the path for the female CEO.

As South Korea rapidly faces low birth rates and aging, is there a way to realize a workplace where youth and seniors save each other, like in "The Intern"?

The "Live and Live (生生) Job Conversation" held on the 8th at the Seoul Employment Labor Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, was an event where 50 citizens interested in jobs gathered to share their thoughts without reserve, focusing on "mutual prosperity" and "lifelong learning." The Economic and Social Labor Committee, which is conducting public discourse for social dialogue, organized the event, and the social cooperative "Parti" was in charge of planning and operating the program.

Parti paired participants who showed different perspectives in advance questions (15 questions) into teams of two and had them talk for an hour.

As the facilitator called out the nicknames (or names) of the participants, they raised their hands and looked for their partners with eager expressions. Even though they knew their partners had different opinions, the participants listened to each other's stories with serious eyes. Seong-hoon Cho, a 50-year-old office worker, and Gun-young Lim, a 30-year-old, started talking about the first question: "Even if youth employment does not increase more than now, should we expand the system so that older workers can work longer?"

Cho, who agreed to "expand support for older workers," said, "Older workers have a more desperate and clear will to work than young people." Lim replied, "From the perspective of those in their 20s and 30s, it feels like older workers are looking for jobs in a leisurely situation where they have prepared for their old age." Cho explained, "Currently, middle-aged people start working in their late 20s and spend all their savings supporting their children until their mid-50s, and only then do they start preparing for their old age." Lim seemed to resonate with the expression "parental burnout."

"There must be an open activity area for the elderly so that money can circulate and return to the younger generation," Cho said, and Lim nodded in agreement. Their opinions also differed on questions related to "transfer of skills from experienced older workers."

"I highly value the wisdom of older workers, and it's very important to share their know-how with young people through communication," Lim said.

"I'm not sure if young people are willing to learn from older workers. They might think, 'This person is like a dinosaur, and I can just ask ChatGPT,' and the transfer of experience, although well-intentioned, seems unrealistic," Cho replied.

Lim offered his own explanation for the communication difficulties: "It seems like the person teaching lacks communication skills, making it hard for the younger generation to accept."

Woman office worker "barra2" and college graduate Shi-hyun Shin had differing opinions on education, specifically whether "broad foundational education is important or education directly linked to actual jobs is important."

Shin said, "While attending a local university's engineering department, I learned subjects that were definitely helpful for my job, but some liberal arts subjects had no practical use."

On the other hand, "barra2" strongly agreed with the "importance of foundational capabilities."

"Many people end up taking jobs that don't match their aptitude, even after majoring in a field related to their job. You never know where your talent will be discovered, so you should be exposed to more. Creativity is enhanced by studying physical education, social sciences, and humanities. Nowadays, practical tasks are being replaced by machines, so human connection and collaboration become even more important," Barra2 said.

As Shin listened, he agreed, "If we expand foundational education to elementary and middle school levels, it seems like the saying that diverse experiences are important makes sense."

The discussion on the causes (individual responsibility vs. socio-structural issues) and solutions (youth job search efforts vs. government support expansion) to the problem of young people "not working" was also rich in conversation.

Young men 'Chungbuk man' and woman 'Jeongshindi' in their 30s both had experience "not working" for three years, but with slightly different perspectives.

Chungbuk man said, "There are many good government support programs, such as the National Employment System and the Youth Challenge Project. The problem is that young people do not actively seek out such opportunities."

Jeongshindi replied, "I think individual effort is crucial, but if they keep trying to find a job and still can't, the government should help. There are almost no places that hire new graduates, making it difficult to change or challenge other jobs."

The two naturally moved on to sharing their experiences of "not working."

Chungbuk man confessed, "I once was a hikikimori. Now, I'm trying not to be like that, focusing ahead."

Jeongshindi, seven years older, said, "Adults think that 'young people have it easy, so they're taking a break, and it's because they're not trying hard enough,' but those who were able to achieve success on their own and our generation are very different."

She continued, "Later, when we're older, there's no time to recharge. The 20s are a time when it's okay to take a break."

After over an hour, some participants shared their impressions.

Chungbuk man was the first to take the microphone: "By peeking into my partner's world, I felt deeply comforted."

Gun-young Lim said, "I came to agree that support for middle-aged people is lacking compared to youth policies. I had never had the opportunity to have an in-depth opinion exchange with someone of a significantly different age, but today's conversation changed my perspective on older workers significantly."