"100,000 Playful Masters and PhDs in Their 50s and 60s"…Shinjoongnyeon Becomes Mentors for SMEs

Job Committee Announces 'Utilization Plan for Retired Senior Professionals'
Establishment of Senior Technology Consulting Center... Wage Subsidies for Reemployment
Strengthening Matching Functions at Middle-aged Job Hope Center... Employment Placement

Asia Economy DB=Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The government is expanding projects across ministries to utilize skilled and professional retirees in their 50s and 60s in industrial sites. They provide technical consulting to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lacking technological expertise and open pathways for reemployment.

The Presidential Committee on Jobs held a meeting at the Korea Press Center on the morning of the 15th, where it proposed and approved the "Utilization Plan for Retired Professionals in the New Middle Age."

According to last year's Economically Active Population Survey, the non-economically active population aged 50-60 with a master's degree or higher exceeds 100,000, with 8,000 unemployed. With rapid aging, the number of retired professionals is increasing, and due to the recent downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of middle-aged retirees is expected to rise further.

Accordingly, the government focused on linking new middle-aged human resources with companies in a customized manner, rather than welfare-type job policies that require large budget expenditures.

First, the Ministry of Employment and Labor will promote a research project from next year to operate the "New Middle Age Technical Consulting Center (tentative name)" to help retired professionals provide technical consulting to SMEs and mid-sized companies. The center will match registered retirees with SMEs requesting consulting.

The government will continue to secure pools of experts in fields such as research and development (R&D), design, and engineering to utilize them for mentoring and consulting in related areas. In particular, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy dispatches retired researchers from public research institutes and large corporations to mid-sized companies in materials, parts, and equipment sectors to resolve technical difficulties.

When retired professionals are reemployed by SMEs, the government subsidizes part of their wages. Various ministries offer support programs such as ▲Support for Utilizing Retired Technical Personnel in SMEs (70% wage subsidy for 4 months, Ministry of SMEs and Startups) ▲Support for Hiring Highly Experienced Researchers (50% of annual salary, Ministry of SMEs and Startups) ▲Support for Utilizing Technical Experts (40% of annual salary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy). In the financial and public sectors, personnel in the pre-retirement stage are utilized for SME consulting and work support to aid reemployment.

The "Middle-aged Job Hope Center," operated by employer organizations such as the Korea Employers Federation, will gradually strengthen its function to match retired professionals with SMEs starting next year. It plans to link reemployment placement and skill transfer activities through the center by utilizing the mandatory reemployment support service system for large corporations, which began this year.

They plan to design skilled transfer systems by incorporating field experience and technical know-how into university curricula and introducing education methods based on Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) (Edutech).

Additionally, reflecting the increased demand for laboratory safety education, highly experienced retired science and technology personnel will be trained as professional instructors. This is in response to the amendment of the "Laboratory Safety Act," which imposes fines of up to 10 million won if education for research activity workers is not conducted. Korea University of Technology and Education operates a vocational training teacher training course for 500 highly skilled retirees annually.

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