[Born in '58, Sunja] Economic and Political Activities Abandoned Due to Low Education and Housework... Starting a New Life 'Engine'

Women Baby Boomer Report #1
A Birth Cohort That Evokes 'Sacrifice, Mother, Wife'
A Group That Forms the Foundation of South Korea... Increasing Economic and Political Roles

[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyun-jung (Sejong), Lee Hyun-joo, Son Sun-hee (Sejong)] The women baby boomer generation has tirelessly run through the fierce battlegrounds of life but has not been left with even a single ‘career certificate.’ For over half a century, they existed only as a generation of compliance and icons of unfortunate sacrifice. These colorless and odorless women, who had no political preferences and did not challenge national affairs, are, however, undergoing a quiet transformation. While everyone focuses on the MZ generation, the new protagonists of the world, Asia Economy shines a spotlight on the 3.6 million Kim Sunjas.

"I agree with the saying that everything has its time. Now in my 60s, it means it’s time to pioneer a new life." (Kim Jae-hee, senior professional model)

"We should not view middle-aged and elderly women only as marginalized groups in need of help. They have a stronger will to work than any other generation and possess high concentration and delicacy." (Lee Do-hyun, Director of Sejong Senior Club)

Korean society has not regarded ‘Sunja-ssi’ as a meaningful economic or political agent. Especially, it overlooked the statistical fact that they are a major participant group in the job market and did not even analyze them as key job seekers. However, although women’s life expectancy is six years longer than men’s, their labor and income base is weak. They had the will to learn but fewer opportunities for education, and quality jobs that offer pension enrollment or certificates did not return. This is why in-depth policy changes for this group are urgently needed.

Looking at the data, Sunja-ssi showed a very high willingness to participate in economic activities, regardless of social and policy interest in this generation. Asia Economy analyzed the microdata from Statistics Korea’s ‘Economically Active Population Survey’ (as of June 2021) and found that 1,985,000 women born between 1955 and 1963 were participating in economic activities (sum of employed and unemployed actively seeking jobs), accounting for 54.5% of all baby boomer women (3,644,000). Contrary to the common belief that most would have withdrawn from the workforce, one in every two Sunja-ssi is actively engaged in economic activities.

However, these ‘working Sunja-ssi’ have been employed in jobs with shorter employment durations compared to men of the same generation. According to the ‘Elderly Supplementary Survey’ conducted annually by Statistics Korea in May, among the 7,993,000 elderly workers aged 55-64 (which closely corresponds to the baby boomer generation), the average length of service for women (3,953,000) was 11 years and 6.1 months, which is 7 years and 3 months shorter than men (4,041,000, 18 years and 9.1 months). Women who worked at one job for more than 30 years (8.3%) were only about one-third of men (23.6%). Women answered that 22.6% had worked less than 5 years at one job, while only 9.7% of men had less than 5 years of tenure.

Although a long tenure does not necessarily mean a quality job, this generation generally had the concept of a ‘lifetime job,’ and tenure was proportional to expertise and income level. This suggests that baby boomer women have remained on the periphery of the labor market.

Recent employment trend data from Statistics Korea supports this analysis. According to the microdata analysis of the employment trends released by Statistics Korea in June, among the 1,258,000 wage workers of the ‘Sunja-ssi’ generation, temporary workers (487,000) and daily workers (95,000) accounted for about half. Among non-wage workers, most were solo self-employed (283,000) or unpaid family workers (301,000). Self-employed with employees numbered only 71,000.

Regarding this, Professor Kang Sung-jin of Korea University’s Department of Economics explained, "In their late 50s, the proportion of male self-employed increases, but women are likely to work as unpaid family workers helping their husbands. Even if they re-enter the workforce, they tend to be concentrated in part-time jobs like casual work rather than formal employment. This is a generation that lacked not only educational opportunities but also work experience opportunities for women."

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