February 16, 2024
SEOUL – With South Korea rapidly closing in on the “super-aged society” threshold, 20.1 percent of all job-seeking posts uploaded on the state-run job search website last year were by people aged 60 and above.
According to the Ministry of Labor, a total of 4.77 million people sought to find new jobs through the state-run Worknet, out of which 959,602 were posted by senior citizens. The figure was higher than for any other age group except the 29 and below group, who uploaded 1.15 million posts.
The percentage of job-seeking posts by the 60 and above group on Worknet has increased yearly since 2013 when it stood at 12.1 percent. In 2013, the 60 and above group accounted for the lowest percentage of the posts on the website out of all age groups, considerably lower than 27 percent by 29 and below group, 23.8 percent by 30-somethings, 18.8 percent by 40-somethings, and 18.3 percent by those in their 50s.
Officials at the ministry said frequent job searching by the seniors is partially due to the fact that they tend to get short-term jobs. But they also attributed the trend to the rapid change in South Korea’s demographic.
According to Statistics Korea’s report last year, 18.4 percent of the country’s population were aged 65 or above in 2022. The country’s senior population is expected to be 20.6 percent of the total population by the year 2025, which would make South Korea a super-aged society by UN standards.
The agency estimates that 46.4 percent of the country’s population will be 65 and above by 2070 if the current trend persists.