An Era of 'Ten Million' Older Adults Wanting to Work More... Employment Rate Improves by 0.7%p Despite COVID-19

Statistics Korea Announces 'May 2021 Economic Activity Population Survey Supplementary Results on the Elderly'

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The number of elderly people (aged 55-79) who want to work more has exceeded 10 million for the first time. This willingness to work, combined with the government's public job policies, led to a 0.7 percentage point (p) improvement in their employment rate despite the spread of COVID-19.

According to the "2021 May Economic Activity Population Survey Elderly Supplementary Survey Results" announced by Statistics Korea on the 27th, as of May, the elderly population wishing to work in the future reached 10.059 million, accounting for 68.1% of the total elderly population (14.766 million). This is a 0.7%p increase from last year and the highest ever recorded.

By gender, men (77.4%) expressed a stronger desire to work in the future than women (59.6%). By employment status, 93.1% of currently employed, 38.4% of unemployed with prior work experience, and 7.7% of those who have never been employed wished to work going forward.

During the same period, the elderly population increased by 494,000 (3.5%) compared to the same month last year, and the economic activity participation rate rose by 0.5%p to 58.0%. The employment rate improved by 0.7%p to 56%.

The desired upper age limit for work among those wishing to work remained at an average of 73 years, the same as last year. The job selection criteria for future workers showed that men prioritized wage level (23.4%), while women prioritized the amount of work and working hours (36.5%). The most desired wage level was 2 to less than 2.5 million KRW (22.3%) for men and 1 to less than 1.5 million KRW (24.9%) for women.

The main reasons for wanting to work were to supplement living expenses (58.7%) and the enjoyment of working or wanting to work as long as health permits (33.2%). In fact, the proportion of pension recipients over the past year was 48.4% (7.144 million), up 1.3%p from the same month last year, but still, more than half did not have pension income. The average monthly pension amount was 640,000 KRW, an increase of 10,000 KRW compared to the previous year.

The proportion of elderly people with job-seeking experience in the past year was 21.1%, up 2.0%p from the same month last year, while the proportion with employment experience in the past year was 64.8%, down 0.5%p from the previous year.

Looking at the distribution of employed elderly by industry, business, personal, and public services accounted for the highest at 38.1%, followed by wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food services (17.6%), and agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (13.6%). The share of construction increased by 1.6%p compared to the same month last year, while the share of wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food services decreased by 1.6%p. Compared to the overall composition ratio of employed persons aged 15 and over, the share of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries was 8.0%p higher among the elderly (13.6%).

By occupation, the distribution was highest among simple labor workers (25.6%), service and sales workers (22.3%), and skilled and machine operators (22.3%). The share of simple labor workers increased by 1.6%p compared to the same month last year, while the share of managers and professionals decreased by 1.3%p.

The average length of service at the longest-held job (ages 55-64) was 15 years and 2.1 months, a decrease of 4.9 months from last year. The average age at the time of quitting work was 49.3 years, down 0.1 years from the previous year. This excludes cases where the longest-held job is still ongoing.

Meanwhile, Statistics Korea's elderly supplementary survey has been conducted annually since 2005 during the week including May 15, targeting the age group 55-79 during the survey period.

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