Generational shift in labor market: Older adults catch up to youth in employment rate

Older job seekers receive employment counseling during a job fair at Hanam Sports Complex in Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Yonhap

The share of economically active Koreans aged 60 and older has climbed to match that of the country's youth, according to Statistics Korea data released Monday.

While older adults are joining the job market due to insufficient finances for retirement, a growing number of young people are giving up on job hunting, pushing older workers to the forefront of the nation's labor force.

The data showed that 49.4 percent of Koreans aged 60 and older were either employed or actively seeking jobs last month, meaning nearly half of older adults participate in the labor force.

The rate rose by 0.8 percent from a year earlier, reaching its highest level since the government began tracking this data in June 1999.

As the country's population ages, senior labor force participation has steadily risen since 2011. Over the past five years, the senior employment rate is up by 4.6 percentage points — nearly twice the 2.6 percent increase for all working-age people aged 15 and older in the same period.

The employment rate of older Koreans is now nearly on par with that of young adults.

Last month, employment for Koreans aged 15 to 29 stood at 49.5 percent, only 0.1 percent higher than the rate for seniors.

Youth labor force participation has trended downward for 13 consecutive months, as more young people withdraw from both employment and job searching.

This decline is largely attributed to a shortage of quality jobs in sectors like manufacturing and construction, along with large companies' growing preference for experienced professionals.

Job seekers check the job posting boards during a job fair at Hanam Sports Complex in Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Yonhap.

Rising economic activity among older adults, however, is not necessarily a positive development, experts noted.

The figures indicate that many retirees have been forced to work out of need rather than choice, considering Korea's high level of senior poverty.

According to the Pensions at a Glance 2023 report published by the OECD in November last year, the poverty rate among older Koreans stood at 40.4 percent, the highest among all 38 OECD member countries. This rate is nearly three times the OECD average of 14.2 percent.

Moreover, the average monthly pension income for those aged 65 and older is only about 800,000 won ($590), far below the minimum living expenses of about 1.34 million won for a single-person household as of 2024.

The high labor force participation rate also conceals a troubling reality, as the quality of jobs held by older workers remains poor in various aspects, including employment status and wage levels.

In August of last year, the number of non-regular workers aged 60 and above reached 2.8 million, the largest figure among all age groups.

"The combination of seniors having no choice but to work and young people facing limited job opportunities is driving a rise in labor market participation among older adults. This situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon," said Kim Kwang-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Korean Economy and Industry.

Kim Yoo-sun, director of the Korea Labor and Society Institute, warned that the employment rate for people in their 60s could soon exceed that of those in their 20s.

"The government needs to prioritize not only increasing job opportunities for the elderly but also boosting youth employment rates," Kim said.