Korean slang profile
이구백
igubaek
Exaggerated label for youth unemployment
An exaggerated expression of youth employment difficulties, saying that most people in their twenties are unemployed.
- Expanded form
- 이십대 구십 퍼센트가 백수ninety percent of people in their twenties are unemployed
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- 2010
- Documented trend period
- Not verified
This is the earliest source we have verified, not the date the term was coined.
01Examples, with English translations
- Example by Julimmal
취업 준비생의 어려움을 다룬 글에 이구백이라는 표현이 나왔다.
The expression 이구백 appeared in an article about the difficulties faced by jobseekers.
02Documented history
- 2010The National Institute of Korean Language’s 2009 new-word collection lists the headword “이구백” and its definition.[1]
03Origin & word formation
This expression was checked in the National Institute of Korean Language’s 2009 new-word collection. The collection explains it as an abbreviation of 이십대 구십 퍼센트가 백수. The ninety percent is an exaggeration built into the expression, not an actual unemployment statistic. Who first used it and when have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationHigh
The headword and definition in the 2010 collection were checked. The original re-quoted articles were not directly opened, so their dates were not used as firstSeen. The original coinage and path of spread remain unverified.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 2009년 신어 자료집 (국립국어원·전주대학교 한국어문화원)Published 2010Original source checked Nov 14, 2026