Major Business Leaders in Busan Region, 77% Support Retirement Age Extension

Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Announces Survey Results of Over 500 Entrepreneurs

Recently, discussions on extending the retirement age have surfaced as a measure to address various social issues arising from entering an aging society. Most major local business leaders also expressed agreement and support for the necessity of extending the retirement age.

On the 15th, the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced the results of a survey on business leaders' opinions regarding retirement age extension, targeting about 500 key local business leaders, including members of the Busan Chamber of Commerce and companies with sales exceeding 50 billion KRW.

According to the survey, 77.1% of the responding business leaders supported extending the retirement age, while only 22.9% opposed it.

This is analyzed to reflect the realistic awareness of local business leaders facing labor supply and demand issues due to low birth rates, as well as a sense of corporate responsibility to solve social structural problems caused by aging.

When asked the reasons for supporting the retirement age extension, 49.8% cited the "need to raise the working age due to increased life expectancy" as the most common reason.

Next were "solving future labor shortages caused by low birth rates (21.7%)," "revitalizing the local economy through increased economic activity of the elderly (15.8%)," and "establishing a social safety net for the elderly (12.8%)."

On the other hand, 70.8% of business leaders opposing the extension stated that they already voluntarily extend employment through post-retirement labor contracts, so separate legislation is unnecessary. Concerns were also expressed that legislating retirement age extension could increase the burden on companies.

Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Regarding the appropriate wage level upon retirement age extension, 44.7% responded that it should be "80% of the pre-extension wage," followed by "the same level (90~100%)" at 29.6%, and "70% level" at 25.7%.

As a measure to reduce wage burdens due to retirement age extension, 57.5% favored "restructuring the wage system, such as wage peak systems and performance-based pay."

Next were "introduction of performance evaluation systems (14.2%)," "job transition support training/education (10.5%)," "early retirement system introduction (7.3%)," and "transfer to affiliates/partner companies (6.8%)."

Contrary to concerns that extending the retirement age would reduce new hires, 75.3% of responding business leaders expected little impact or even an increase.

This appears to reflect the perception that cost savings from wage system reforms like the wage peak system after retirement age extension could be used to hire new personnel.

Regarding policy priorities for retirement age extension, direct support measures such as "alleviating corporate cost burdens (32.1%)" and "expanding support for maintaining elderly employment (28.8%)" were relatively more preferred than indirect support measures like "establishing institutional devices for wage flexibility (20.4%)" and "employment flexibility (18.6%)."

The Economic Trend Analysis Center of the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated, "Discussions on extending the retirement age are linked not only to corporate labor supply difficulties but also to social structural issues such as population aging and improvements to the national pension system. For these discussions to become concrete, active consideration must be given to how to alleviate the burden on companies, which bear the cost, through policy support."

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