KB News Desk
Workforce aged 55-79 tops 10 million for first time, with living costs the leading reason for staying employed: report
The number of working South Koreans aged 55 to 79 has surpassed 10 million for the first time, and nearly seven in 10 in the age group say they want to remain employed until their mid-70s.
More than half cited the need to cover living expenses, indicating the financial pressures keeping many older Koreans in the workforce.
The number of employed people in the age group reached 10.1 million in May, up sharply from 6.7 million in 2016, according to a report released Wednesday by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
South Korea had 17 million people aged 55 to 79 as of May. Of them, 10.36 million were economically active, meaning they were either employed or actively seeking work.
The labor force participation rate for the age group stood at 60.9 percent, while the employment rate was 59.5 percent. Both were unchanged from a year earlier, when they reached record highs.
The increase in employment partly reflects the rapid growth of the country’s older population, but the survey also showed a sustained desire among older Koreans to remain in the workforce.
Some 69.2 percent of people aged 55 to 79 said they wanted to continue working in the future. The figure edged down from a record 69.4 percent last year but remained the second highest on record.
Those who wanted to continue working said they hoped to do so until age 73.6 on average.
Asked why they wanted to remain employed, 53.4 percent cited the need to cover living expenses. The share has declined from 60.2 percent in 2019.
Another 36.7 percent said they wanted to work because they enjoyed it, marking the fifth consecutive annual increase from 33.1 percent in 2021.
The findings also point to the limited pension income available to many older Koreans.
Just over half of those aged 55 to 79, or 52.7 percent, received pension payments during the previous year. Their monthly pension income averaged 880,000 won ($617), well below the government’s estimated minimum monthly living cost of 1.54 million won for a single-person household.
Some 37.7 percent received between 250,000 won and less than 500,000 won a month, while 33.2 percent received between 500,000 won and less than 1 million won.
Only 15.9 percent received at least 1.5 million won a month.
