Results of 3 Years of Senior Job Creation... 20,000 in Private Sector vs 190,000 in Public Interest Sector

540,000 out of 740,000 planned jobs this year are public service type

Decline in private sector jobs... Urgent need to discover and match private sector jobs

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] It has been revealed that 7 out of 10 direct jobs created by government funding for the elderly are public service type jobs with simple volunteer characteristics. Over the past three years, public service jobs increased by 188,000, while private sector jobs only increased by 23,000, highlighting a concentration of low-quality, short-term jobs. To reduce the government's financial burden, there are calls to actively promote policies that discover and match stable private sector jobs with guaranteed income.

According to the 'Recent Employment Trends and Analysis of Fiscal Support Job Projects' report released by the National Assembly Budget Office on the 13th, among the 740,000 planned elderly jobs this year, 543,000 are filled with public service type jobs. This means that 7 out of 10 elderly jobs created by the government are public service type jobs. Public service type jobs involve tasks such as supporting vulnerable elderly people’s daily lives or volunteering at public facilities. There have been criticisms that these jobs often involve simple tasks like picking up trash and short working hours as contract positions, resulting in low income compensation effects.

On the other hand, private sector jobs account for only 107,000 (20.8%). Other jobs such as talent sharing and social service types total 52,000 (10.1%).

Elderly job types are classified into ▲public service type ▲private type, which creates employment according to private labor demand ▲talent sharing, which utilizes elderly qualifications and experience for counseling and learning guidance ▲social service type, which employs elderly workers in areas requiring social assistance.

Looking at the direct job projects promoted by the government, the proportion of public service type jobs is increasing while private sector jobs are decreasing. Public service type jobs were 355,000 (69.1%) in 2018, 441,000 (72.3%) in 2019, and 543,000 (73.4%) in 2020, increasing by 4.3 percentage points over the past three years. Meanwhile, private sector jobs declined by 3.2 percentage points during the same period, from 107,000 (20.8%) in 2018 to 102,000 (16.7%) in 2019 and 130,000 (17.6%) in 2020. During this period, public service jobs increased by 188,000, while private sector jobs only increased by 23,000. Although it is necessary to induce job creation in the private sector, the government has focused on increasing public service jobs to immediately address elderly poverty issues.

Although the number of employed people increased significantly last year, overcoming the previous year's sluggishness, the government’s elderly job projects played a part behind this employment upswing. The number of employed people by industry increased by 300,000 (1.1%) compared to the previous year across all industries, with 160,000 (7.8%) of that increase in health and social welfare services, where government funding is mainly invested, leading the employment growth. This sector was where the government’s direct employment jobs were concentrated. The number of employed people aged 60 and over also increased by 370,000, reaching an all-time high.

As the government strengthens elderly job projects every year, the budget for direct job projects is also increasing annually. It exceeded 2 trillion won, rising from 1.9908 trillion won in 2018 to 2.0779 trillion won in 2019, and increased further to 2.8587 trillion won this year.

There are criticisms that the current government elderly job projects, which focus mainly on public service type jobs, have limitations amid rapidly progressing aging. The government cannot continue to bear the increasing demand for elderly jobs with public funds alone. Kim Yoon-soo, an analyst at the Social Budget Analysis Division of the Budget Analysis Office, said, "The government needs to make efforts to discover and match jobs so that elderly job seekers can obtain quality, sustainable private sector jobs in the long term," adding, "It is necessary to develop and disseminate job types and duties suitable for elderly workers, and to strengthen employment services such as education, training, and job matching for elderly people willing to be reemployed."

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