<Anchor> This is a
friendly economic time. Reporter Kim Hye-min is also here today (28th). Today we are talking about the elderly. The aging population is increasing, but the quality of life of the elderly is not very good.
<Reporter>
First of all, when we talk about the elderly, we mean between the ages of 55 and 79. They make up about one-third of the country's total population.
Statistics Korea analyzed their economic activity once. The labor force participation rate and employment rate increased slightly compared to last year. However, when they quit their longest-serving job, their average age was 49.3.
Since I worked the longest, I counted the length of time I worked as a full-time job. The average age at the time of quitting was 0.1 years lower on average this year compared to last year.
The most common reasons for quitting were business slump and closures or closures. There have been quite a few cases where they were given resignation or layoffs because of poor health.
Especially these days, life expectancy is increasing. Only 2% of people who quit because they thought they were old enough to quit their jobs remained in the 2% range.
<Anchor>
So, he said that he was about 50 years old when he quit the job or job he had worked for all his life, but the age at which I want to work is much older.
<Reporter>
you're right. First of all, the proportion of older people who said they want to work in the future is increasing. 68.1%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points, wanted to continue working, and 2 out of 3 people have a desire to work.
More than half of the reasons for wanting to add to the cost of living were. I also want to feel the pleasure of working, or to work as long as my health allows. A lot of people answered this way.
We also asked the elderly who said they wanted to continue working at what age they would like to work, and the average was 73 years old.
It is noteworthy that the older you get, the higher the age at which you want to work.
But in reality, the longest job I've worked for is quitting at the age of 49. After that, only 52% of the people returned to work.
<Anchor>
So many older people want to work, but not many actually work. It's like this. But why do older people want to work like this?
<Reporter> As
you said, there are people who receive a pension. But this isn't much. 48.4% of all elderly people receive a pension.
However, the average monthly receipt amount is only 640,000 won. In a situation where prices are rising significantly, realistically it would be too difficult to live on 640,000 won a month.
So it is interpreted as trying to do additional work like this. The average monthly wage desired by the elderly is between 1.5 million won and 2 million won the most. After that, it was less than 1 million won to 1.5 million won.
About half of the job selection criteria were those considering the amount of work, the time of day, and the wage level.
<Anchor>
So, there are many reasons, but in the end, there are a lot of older people who want to work to fill or supplement the economic part. In that sense, it seems that the elderly are in desperate need for their old age. Yes?
<Reporter>
That's right. The aging population is growing at the fastest rate among OECD member countries. In 2048, it is predicted that Korea will become the oldest among OECD countries.
In addition, the elderly poverty rate in Korea was 43.2% as of 2019, the highest among OECD member countries. Compared to other countries abroad, the US is only 23% and Japan is only 20%.
However, in Korea, the national pension is low, and there are not many people who have signed up for a private pension. As of 2018, the most recent data, the replacement rate for public and private pension income in Korea is 43.2%.
This means that even if both private pensions such as retirement pensions and public pensions such as national pensions are combined, the average income before retirement is less than half.
It is important for young people who are actively engaged in economic activities to join other private pension schemes early, rather than relying solely on the national pension from now on.
In addition, it is necessary for the government to provide a strong social security system to the elderly who are not prepared for their old age.