The purpose of this study is to identify characteristics of unemployed youth by analyzing changes and influencing factors of their expectation of employment and to present policy directions for youth employment. Using data from the 10th to12th Youth Panel, the study selected five items of job search conditions for potential class analysis and potential transition analysis of unemployed youth as well as individual and human capital variables for multinomial logistic regression analysis. The main results of the analyses include the following: first, unemployed young people can be divided into three groups according to their employment expectation. Second, the potential transition analysis according to the employment expectation shows that the work/ environment-oriented group and a majority of the low expectation group maintained their expectation of employment, while the company size-oriented group were highly likely to transfer to another group in the following year. Third, factors influencing the transition of their focus to work/environment or company size included their academic backgrounds, economic status, and preparation for job entrance examination. It is also found that the youth did not have unconditionally high employment expectation, but they became gradually tolerant of employment conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to make efforts to provide employment counseling considering the characteristics of youth expectation rather than simply providing them with more jobs.