As South Korean society ages, the percentage of job seekers aged 60 and older has exceeded 20%. Due to the intensifying economic difficulties, elderly people continue to earn a living after retirement age and many of them are often short-term employees, which leads to more frequent job searches.
According to employment administration statistics from the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Employment Information Service on Feb. 15, there were 4.762 million new job applications posted on the government-run job information site Worknet last year. Of these, 959,602 (20.1%) were from job seekers aged 60 and older.
The proportion of job seekers aged 60 and over has been increasing, from 12.1% in 2013, 14.1% in 2015, 17.1% in 2017, 17.5% in 2019, 17.7% in 2021, and 19% in 2022. In 2013, the percentage of job seekers over 60 was the lowest followed by those aged 29 and under (27%), 30s (23.9%), 40s (18.8%), and 50s (18.3%).
However, the number of job seekers aged over 60 in the past year was second only to those in their 20s (24%). On a month-by-month basis, there have been times when the number of job seekers aged over 60 has outnumbered those in their 20s. In January this year, the number of job seekers aged 60 and over (27.4%) exceeded those aged 29 and under (22.7%). “There is a demographic effect,” said Cheon Kyung-gi, head of the future employment analysis division at the Ministry of Employment and Labor. “Young people tend to stay at a job for a relatively long time once they get a job, while those over 60 tend to make short-term contracts,” he added.
