By Choi Sung-jin
"If the conflicts between the haves and have-nots were extreme in the 20th century, conflicts between young and old will be severe in the 21st century."
The London-based Economist magazine said so in its first issue of 2001, bringing up "inter-generational conflict" as a topic for discussion. Fifteen years later generational discord is also heightening over jobs in Korea mired in a low-growth trap.
Concerns are mounting here that jobs for old people can erode youth employment. However, a series of recent reports say old people are not taking away jobs from the younger generation.
"Our analysis of job markets on the basis of wage levels, employment types and service periods showed that jobs for the old are separated from jobs for the young," said Ji Eun-jeong, a fellow at the Korea Labor Force Development Institute for the Aged, in her report titled, "Does competition exist between generations over jobs?"
By wages, people aged 65 and older are taking up 45.7 percent of the low-paying jobs with monthly wages of 500,000 won ($450) or less while those in their 20s account for 29.5 percent of the jobs with monthly wages of 1 million-1.5 million won, and 31 percent of jobs paying 1.5 million-2 million won a month. Chances are good that people in their 30s have jobs paying 2 million to 3 million won a month and those over 40 tend to get jobs with monthly wages of more than 3 million won.
By contract period, people aged 50 and older are drawn to jobs with contract periods of one month or even shorter while 20-something workers go for regular jobs that have contract periods of one year or more.
Similar result were shown in a study of the employment patterns of young and old people in 20 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the report said. Because of the skills they have, there was little overlapping of jobs between younger and older generations, indicating there are different jobs for older and younger workers.
"Countries like Norway and Denmark are not approaching the employment of old people and youth unemployment separately but are trying to solve the issue with one policy of expanding demand for labor," Ji said. "It is not desirable for Korea to kick out old workers from the labor market prematurely to solve youth unemployment."
In a separate report, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade also reported that in the service sectors, jobs for Korea's old and young workers are relatively more separated from each other than in other industrialized countries such as Japan and Britain.
Young workers are mostly engaging in high value-added jobs, including health care, tourism and content industries while older workers are concentrating in low value-added jobs such as property rental, distribution and administrative support.
"As new jobs continue to appear depending on age, knowledge and experience, the increase in the employment of older workers does not necessarily lead to the decline of youth employment," said Choe Seong-jae, director of the institute studying job markets for the old. "The government needs to make employment policies taking into account the fact that jobs for the old and young do not substitute but supplement each other."
"If the conflicts between the haves and have-nots were extreme in the 20th century, conflicts between young and old will be severe in the 21st century."
The London-based Economist magazine said so in its first issue of 2001, bringing up "inter-generational conflict" as a topic for discussion. Fifteen years later generational discord is also heightening over jobs in Korea mired in a low-growth trap.
Concerns are mounting here that jobs for old people can erode youth employment. However, a series of recent reports say old people are not taking away jobs from the younger generation.
"Our analysis of job markets on the basis of wage levels, employment types and service periods showed that jobs for the old are separated from jobs for the young," said Ji Eun-jeong, a fellow at the Korea Labor Force Development Institute for the Aged, in her report titled, "Does competition exist between generations over jobs?"
By wages, people aged 65 and older are taking up 45.7 percent of the low-paying jobs with monthly wages of 500,000 won ($450) or less while those in their 20s account for 29.5 percent of the jobs with monthly wages of 1 million-1.5 million won, and 31 percent of jobs paying 1.5 million-2 million won a month. Chances are good that people in their 30s have jobs paying 2 million to 3 million won a month and those over 40 tend to get jobs with monthly wages of more than 3 million won.
By contract period, people aged 50 and older are drawn to jobs with contract periods of one month or even shorter while 20-something workers go for regular jobs that have contract periods of one year or more.
Similar result were shown in a study of the employment patterns of young and old people in 20 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the report said. Because of the skills they have, there was little overlapping of jobs between younger and older generations, indicating there are different jobs for older and younger workers.
"Countries like Norway and Denmark are not approaching the employment of old people and youth unemployment separately but are trying to solve the issue with one policy of expanding demand for labor," Ji said. "It is not desirable for Korea to kick out old workers from the labor market prematurely to solve youth unemployment."
In a separate report, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade also reported that in the service sectors, jobs for Korea's old and young workers are relatively more separated from each other than in other industrialized countries such as Japan and Britain.
Young workers are mostly engaging in high value-added jobs, including health care, tourism and content industries while older workers are concentrating in low value-added jobs such as property rental, distribution and administrative support.
"As new jobs continue to appear depending on age, knowledge and experience, the increase in the employment of older workers does not necessarily lead to the decline of youth employment," said Choe Seong-jae, director of the institute studying job markets for the old. "The government needs to make employment policies taking into account the fact that jobs for the old and young do not substitute but supplement each other."
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