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By Park Hyong-ki
A superfast aging population ― is it a curse or predetermined destiny for the economy?
Every month or every other week, people hear and read news about the country that is about to face darker days ahead because of the rising elderly population.
Throw in data of Korea's elderly poverty rate, which is the highest among the OECD members, and it just gets more depressing, as if Korea having the OECD's fastest aging population and the lowest birthrate is not enough
The population is expected to decrease from 51.4 million in 2017 to 39.3 million in 2067, as the number of natural deaths will begin exceeding that of newborns this year.
Also, the forecast of this country with a zero population by 2650 makes it worse and people wonder if South Korea will actually disappear from the global map, or if it can be merged with North Korea before that happens.
The situation has become more than awful. It has become critical.
But other advanced and even some notable emerging countries have the same problem.
The United States has it, as well as China and not to mention Japan.
Vietnam, with which Korea seeks to deepen its ties, doesn't have that problem yet, but is preparing for the possibility when its economy grows. Vietnam has been inviting Korean economists and demographers to share insights on the matter so that Vietnam can avoid ending up like Korea or Japan.
So, it's a problem around the world, and Korea has constantly acknowledged that it's a problem that the aging population will especially reduce growth. Growth has been decreasing by 1 percentage point every administration on average, regardless of stable or unstable demographics.
It is time to move on for God's sake from those depressing numbers, which people are aware of, and start brainstorming how to make the aging human resources "resourceful and count" for the next phase of the economy.
That is what the Korea Development Institute recently recommended ― the country should seek to help the elderly become part of the workforce, instead of just ignoring them and saying, "They are old, and you can't teach an old dog new tricks."
Yes, you can, as long as the right policies can nudge and pivot them, even the young, to gain the motivation to learn and develop their professional skills for a lifelong career.
All policies ― labor, immigration, housing, welfare, innovation ― should be put into force at once to achieve such an objective. It takes more than just a childcare policy to turn the demographic situation around.
In labor, for instance, Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh-hyun suggested at a recent seminar at Pohang University of Science and Technology that the country should open its doors and allow companies to acquire foreign professionals.
This would help boost workforce diversity and competitiveness, which would then spur creativity and innovation.
And people would get motivated if the workforce becomes vibrant.
This is an environment Korea needs to improve happiness, instead of only focusing on reaching certain numbers in annual growth, which really does not measure demographic wellbeing.
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