7 in 10 S. Korean seniors want to keep working: data

Nearly 70 percent of South Koreans aged 55 to 79 are willing to work past retirement, data showed, reflecting the ongoing financial insecurities among the country's senior population.

The figure, coming from a May survey by the government’s statistics body, represents an increase of 0.9 percentage point from the previous month. Additionally, 20.7 percent of seniors actively sought employment in the past year, also up 0.9 percentage point from April. The data was released Tuesday.

Respondents hope to work until 73.3 years old on average, far exceeding South Korea's statutory retirement age of 60. Fifty-five percent of respondents cited living expenses as their primary motivation for continued employment, suggesting potential gaps in the safety net for retirees.

South Korea has a notably high senior poverty rate that sets the country apart from other developed countries. According to 2023 data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 40.4 percent of South Koreans aged 65 and older live in relative poverty — the highest figure among the 38 member countries. That is 25 percentage points above Korea's overall national average and nearly double the senior poverty rates in Japan and the United States at 20.2 percent and 22.8 percent, respectively.

Experts attribute much of this vulnerability to shortcomings in South Korea's pension system. South Korea's National Pension Service, which begins payouts at age 63, replaces only 31.6 percent of preretirement income on average. This figure falls well short of the OECD's 50.7 percent average, according to the organization's "Pensions at a Glance" report for 2023.

One reason is that South Korea's relatively new pension system, founded only in 1988, has left many of today's senior population with shorter contribution periods. A targeted basic pension designed to complement income for older people was rolled out as recently as 2014. Citing these reasons, the OECD report explicitly describes South Korea's pension system as "not mature yet."