Workers getting older

By Yoon Ja-young

Han Young-geun, 65, who retired from a state-run enterprise a few years ago, got a new job at a landscaping firm. Though it is a low-paying, manual job, Han thinks he is lucky to maintain some income.

With senior citizens like Han working after retirement and the overall aging of the population, the country’s workforce is getting older.

According Statistics Korea, the average age of those in the country’s workforce was 44.2 last year, up 0.2 from the previous year.

The average age of the workforce has been rising each year, from 41.1 in 2004 to 42 in 2006 and 43.1 in 2010. That contrasts with 1974, when the average age was 36.3 and those in their 30s made up most of the workforce.

The rise reflects the reality that most Koreans cannot stop working, even after retirement, because they are not financially prepared.

Last year, the number of employed people 65 or older increased by 105,000 to more than 2 million for the first time.

The number of workers aged 55 to 64 was 4.1 million last year, up 284,000 from the previous year. The number of workers in their 20s increased by only 56,000, to 3.6 million.

Those aged 40 or older make up 63 percent of the workers, compared with 39 percent in 1980.

Experts expect the average age of workers to climb because of aging baby boomers and the low birth rate.

Cho Ho-jung, a senior researcher at Hyundai Research Institute, said businesses and the government should prepare for the aging of the workforce.

“To prepare for falling labor productivity following aging, businesses should enhance the efficiency of technology and diversify job training for senior workers as well as females,” she said.

She said the government might consider importing skilled and professional foreigners.

“Aging is a global phenomenon,” she said. “Korea should set its own ‘silver economy model’ to make use of the aging as a new growth opportunity.”