Middle-aged Job Seekers Apply to an Average of 14 Companies and Attend 4 Interviews for Reemployment

'2019 Survey on Job-Seeking Activities of Middle-Aged and Older Adults'

Korea Federation of SMEs Middle-aged and Senior Job Hope Center

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] It has been revealed that job seekers aged 40 and above applied to an average of 14 companies and attended interviews at 4 companies in order to succeed in reemployment.

The Korea Employers Federation's Senior Job Hope Center announced on the 8th the results of the "2019 Senior Job Seeking Activity Survey," conducted over 15 days from November 27 last year, targeting 352 job seekers aged 40 and above.

The number of companies that seniors applied to for reemployment after retirement was surveyed as follows: less than 5 companies (43.2%), 5 to less than 10 companies (26.5%), and 10 to less than 20 companies (14.9%), with an average of 14 companies applied to. Additionally, the number of interviews for reemployment was less than 5 (68.4%), 5 to less than 10 (24.5%), and 10 to less than 15 (5.2%), averaging 4 companies.

Senior job seekers responded that they wish to continue economic activities until an average age of 67. Their desired monthly salary was ranked as follows: 2,000,000 to less than 2,500,000 KRW (32.7%), 1,500,000 to less than 2,000,000 KRW (24.7%), and 2,500,000 to less than 3,000,000 KRW (17.6%). However, those seniors who actually succeeded in reemployment earned only about 66.3% of the wage level compared to their previous jobs.

The length of continuous employment showed that 67.1% of seniors did not reach 2 years. The breakdown was: 1 to less than 2 years (21.9%), 6 months to less than 1 year (21.3%), 3 to less than 6 months (14.2%), and more than 5 years (7.7%). Seniors cited the biggest difficulties in job seeking as "lack of demand for senior hiring" and "a culture that emphasizes age."

Park Cheolhan, Director of the Federation of Korean Industries Small and Medium Business Cooperation Center, said, "To solve the reemployment issue for seniors, a shift in corporate perception toward hiring seniors, along with government’s targeted support expansion such as long-term employment support for seniors, and various other measures are required."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.