Korea's older adults work longest hours among OECD members

Older adults attend a job fair in Seoul, Nov. 18. Yonhap

Kim Eun-hui, 57, took voluntary retirement earlier this year after her company offered an early exit package. Now, she's searching for part-time work close to home.

"If I had declined that offer, they would have fired me anyway," she said to The Korea Times. "I tried to find another stable job, but given my age, it wasn't easy."

Kim estimates she'll need to work for at least five more years — until her two sons graduate from college and find jobs. When asked how confident she felt about that timeline, she hesitated.

"I didn’t realize how harsh the employment reality is," she said. "I now understand why so many people, even those without experience, end up starting their own small businesses."

Her story reflects a broader trend in Korea, which has the highest rate of older adult employment among developed nations. In 2023, 37.3 percent of Koreans aged 65 and older were still working — well above the OECD average of 13.6 percent and even surpassing Japan's 25.3 percent, despite its earlier transition into a super-aged society.

The average older adult wants to keep working until age 73.4, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. But that's often not a choice.

More than half of older workers, 54.4 percent, cited "covering living expenses" as the main reason they remain in the workforce. Just a fraction said they worked for enjoyment or to relieve boredom, underscoring the economic pressures facing Korea's aging population.

According to experts, the rise in older adult labor participation stems largely from Korea’s insufficient pension coverage and the prevalence of early retirement.

A recent report by the National Pension Research Institute, titled “National Pension and Senior Labor Supply,” found that the average monthly pension payout in 2024 was just 660,000 won ($450) — less than half the minimum cost of living for a single-person household, which was 1.34 million won.

Unlike many Western nations with more robust pension systems, Korea's older adults often cannot afford to stop working, even after benefits begin.

Another problem is the widening gap between when people retire and when pension payments start. Although the legal retirement age is 60, most Koreans leave their main jobs at just 52.9, as of 2025. Meanwhile, the pension eligibility age is gradually rising — from 63 for those born between 1961 and 1964 to 65 for those born in 1969 or later.

That leaves many retirees with a decade or more of limited income.

"Structural labor market rigidities in Korea, namely the seniority-based wage and promotion systems, lead to premature retirement," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wrote in its October report titled "Healthy Aging and Labor Market Participation in Korea."

In Korea, wages rise based on tenure rather than performance, making older employees increasingly costly to retain. To cut expenses, companies often encourage early retirement, leaving many retirees to seek low-wage, non-regular jobs to stay afloat.

Pressure for policy change is mounting.

One notable recommendation came from the IMF, which urged Korea to pursue two key reforms: raising the retirement age and overhauling the seniority-based wage system. The goal is to keep older workers in stable employment longer, without making them a financial liability for employers.

"Korea's statutory retirement age remains below that in many OECD countries. The pension eligibility age is also the lowest in the OECD," it wrote. "OECD has estimated that increasing the pensionable age to 68 years by 2035 could increase total employment by 14 percent and GDP by 12 percent by 2070."

Oh Yu-jin, a researcher at the National Pension Research Institute, also notes that Korea's aging issue requires a fundamental redesign of the nation’s economic and social systems.

"Older adults' quality of life cannot be improved if retirement, pension and employment policies continue to function in isolation," Oh said. "A coordinated overhaul is needed to reduce friction between these systems."