The biggest victims of the global financial crisis that began in 2008 are people in their 20s and 30s, analysis suggests.

According to the employment figures released recently by the Korea Employment Information Service, the employment rate of those in their 20s dropped by 2.8 percentage points from 59.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 57.1 percent in the first quarter of 2009, the largest drop among all age groups.

The rate of those in their 30s fell 2.6 percentage points in the same period. By contrast, the rate of those in their 40s and 50s dropped a mere 1.8 and 1.6 points, showing that they suffered a relatively mild blow from the financial crisis.