67.4% of Elderly Want to Work More... Reason for Work Desire: "Need for Living Expenses"

Statistics Korea 'Supplementary Survey on the Elderly in the Economically Active Population' Results

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] It has been revealed that 67% of the elderly population in South Korea wish to continue working in the future. The main reason for seeking employment, as in previous years, was to cover 'living expenses,' and the desired monthly wage level generally increased compared to last year.

According to the "2020 May Economically Active Population Survey Supplementary Survey on the Elderly" released by Statistics Korea on the 28th, as of last May, the elderly population aged 55 to 79 was 14,271,000, an increase of 428,000 (3.1%) compared to the same month last year. Among the elderly surveyed, regardless of current employment status, 9.62 million (67.4%) expressed a desire to work in the future, an increase of 2.5 percentage points from a year ago. Since 2005, Statistics Korea has conducted this survey every May to gather basic data necessary for establishing employment and welfare policies, such as support for senior jobs, by assessing the labor utilization and employment status of the elderly.

According to the survey, the elderly who wish to work in the future want to work until the age of 73, the same as last year's survey, and the desired wage level generally increased compared to last year. The proportion of elderly hoping for a monthly wage between 1.5 million and less than 2 million won, which was the highest response rate, slightly decreased from 22.9% last year to 22.7%, but those hoping for 2 million to less than 2.5 million won increased from 17.5% to 17.9%, and those hoping for 2.5 million to less than 3 million won rose from 8.5% to 9.3%. The proportion hoping for more than 3 million won also increased from 11.4% last year to 12.1% this year.

Among the elderly who want to work, 58.8% (5,658 people) wished to work to supplement their living expenses. Although this is a decrease from 60.2% last year, it remains the most dominant motivation among all employment hopes. Other reasons included the enjoyment of working (33.8%), boredom (3.3%), social necessity (2.3%), and maintaining health (1.7%). Due to low retirement income, they aim to cover living expenses directly through earned income.

The proportion of elderly receiving public or private pensions was 47.1% among those aged 55 to 79 and 64.6% among those aged 60 to 79. These figures represent increases of 1.2 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points, respectively, compared to last year. The average monthly pension amount was 820,000 won for men and 420,000 won for women, increasing by 30,000 won and 10,000 won respectively from the previous year. The proportion of elderly who experienced job-seeking activities in the past year was 19.1%, up 0.3 percentage points from last year, and the proportion with employment experience also increased by 0.4 percentage points to 65.3%.

As the number of elderly seeking jobs increased, the employment rate fell and the unemployment rate rose. The employment rate for those aged 55 to 79 dropped from 55.9% last year to 55.3%, while the unemployment rate rose from 2.9% to 3.8%.

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