Nearly 7 in 10 older adults want to work until 73: survey

All News 12:00 July 26, 2022

SEOUL, July 26 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 70 percent of South Korean senior citizens said they want to continue to work until the age of 73, a survey showed Tuesday, amid rapid aging and a rise in life expectancy.

The poll by Statistics Korea showed 10.35 million, or 68.5 percent, of the 15.1 million people aged between 55 and 79 said they want to keep working in the future, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the survey conducted in May.

Those polled said they want to keep working until an average of 73, unchanged from the previous year.

When it comes to the main reason for hoping to work, 57.1 percent said they want to earn enough for living expenses. It showed 34.7 percent said they want to work as long their health conditions allow.

More than 54 percent hope to have full-time jobs, while 45.8 percent said they want to work part-time jobs.

As for monthly wage levels, 20.9 percent said they want to earn 1.5 million to 2 million won (US$1,140-1,530), followed by 18.5 percent for less than 2 million-2.5 million won, the survey showed.

The number of working elderly came to 8.77 million, up 496,000 from a year earlier, while the number of jobless people aged between 55 and 79 fell 87,000 to 200,000.

South Korea is grappling with demographic challenges from a chronically low birthrate and rapid aging.

The country is widely expected to become a super-aged society in 2025, in which the proportion of those aged 65 and older will hit 20 percent of the total population. The country became an aged society in 2017, as the portion of such people exceeded 14 percent.

The average life expectancy of South Korean babies born in 2020 reached 83.5 years, more than seven years longer than two decades ago.