"Living in Your 50s in South Korea Where the Minimum Wage Is Hope"

Anxiety About the Future and Retirement Preparation Are Out of the Question, Parental and Child Support Responsibilities Remain
The Absolute Concern of the '50+ Generation' Is Work and Job Seeking... But They Want It to Be Work That Can Also Contribute to Society

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Kim Si-young (58, pseudonym), who retired from a large corporation in the third year of the wage peak system, is attending a government-funded vocational school studying for an electrician license. He wanted to stay until the end, but with continuous non-managerial positions and the burden of organizational scrutiny, he had no choice but to leave. His wife is a full-time homemaker, and his only son, born later than his friends' children, has just become a college student.

He considered starting a business with his severance pay but gave up, thinking it was a reckless challenge amid COVID-19. Kim said, "Everything from entering vocational school, obtaining certifications, to reemployment is a new competitive test," adding, "The college tuition support is gone, and I became a regional health insurance subscriber. Now, I just hope to earn at least minimum wage while taking the bus and subway until the day I receive my national pension."

People in their 50s in South Korea lose sleep over anxiety about the future every day. Their anxiety grows especially around the year-end and New Year personnel evaluations at their companies. Although retirement is not far off, talks of restructuring and voluntary retirement circulate among friends. After nearly 30 years of work, they are experienced, but what comes after is the problem. They cannot even fathom the responsibilities of supporting their parents and children, let alone their own retirement. Currently, it is highly likely they will need to find another job after retirement.

However, if they must find another job, they hope that earning a living is not all there is. They want work that solves economic worries while contributing to society. They wish for opportunities in the latter half of life to do what they are good at, maintaining confidence and self-esteem.

The concerns of South Korea’s 50s are also confirmed through counseling cases. The ‘Seoul 50 Plus Foundation’ counseling center, operated by Seoul City for the ‘50+ generation (ages 50?64),’ found that the absolute priority for visitors was work and job seeking. The foundation conducts counseling in seven areas: work, finance, social contribution, social relationships, family, leisure, and health. Counseling related to work accounted for 53% of all consultations. Notably, more than 7 out of 10 (73%) preferred job seeking as their desired employment type.

Working women in their 50s face even greater hardships. According to a job life survey by the Seoul Women’s Ability Development Institute of 1,247 women aged 20?59, among women in their 50s holding multiple jobs (‘n-jobbers’), 51% cited ‘livelihood’ as the main reason. Considering that 40% of these women work more than 9 hours a day on average, many women in their 50s continue to lead grueling lives working over 9 hours daily. The main reasons were difficulty finding stable income jobs and insufficient living expenses from a single job.

The remaining hope for South Koreans in their 50s is that, although not abundant, retirement income will be generated from work that utilizes their experience, skills, abilities, interests, and aptitudes. They want their work to have social meaning, even if their livelihood is modest. An analysis of career preparation behaviors for life redesign among the 50+ generation living in Seoul showed that 64% pursued job creation types, more than twice the 25% who pursued livelihood types. Furthermore, responses regarding desired job types showed social contribution types at 54%, the highest proportion, followed by livelihood types at 24%.

Lee Nan-young (57), who lived as a homemaker for about ten years due to career interruption, began giving life planning lectures for middle-aged people through Seoul City in 2017. Based on this, she built a career as a retirement planning specialist and founded a one-person company called ‘The Use Life Research Institute’ in 2019, actively working now. Hong Eun-pyo (63), who previously worked at an IT specialist company, combined his interest in travel after age 60 with his past experience to establish a travel specialist company called ‘Indie Life,’ starting his second life by publishing travel guides and providing travel-related consulting.

Kim Young-dae, CEO of the Seoul 50 Plus Foundation, explained, "The concerns faced by the 50+ generation are complex, involving not only economic issues but also social contribution activities and social relationships," adding, "The life transition concerns of the 50+ generation are not limited to one area but appear across multiple domains."

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