[Editorial] Support for “Continued Employment” Must Be Strengthened as Working Elderly Surpass 10 Million

The number of elderly people working past the age of 55 has surpassed 10 million for the first time. According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ report on the “May 2026 Supplementary Survey on the Economically Active Population—Elderly Segment,” released on August 5, the number of employed elderly people as of May stood at 10,125,000, an increase of 345,000 from a year earlier. The average age at which these individuals hope to continue working was 73.6 years, and an overwhelming majority of elderly workers (93.4%) said they wished to keep working in the future. In contrast, the average age at which they left their longest-held job was 53.0, revealing a striking 20-year gap compared to their preferred age for continued employment.

The leading reason for wanting to work remained “to help with living expenses” (53.4%), though the proportion has declined by 3.4 percentage points over the past five years. Meanwhile, the share of those citing “the joy of working” increased by 3.5 percentage points during the same period. This shift indicates that motivations among elderly workers are evolving beyond the need for basic living expenses. Including those who cited reasons such as “maintaining health” or “alleviating boredom,” it is clear that more elderly people are working for self-fulfillment, health, and productive use of time, rather than for financial reasons alone—a trend likely to continue in the future.

The government plans to pass legislation within this year to raise the statutory retirement age from 60 to 65. On August 4, Kim Young-hoon, Minister of Employment and Labor, stated in a presidential work briefing that the government would pursue a generationally harmonious extension of the retirement age. The intention is to ensure that extending the retirement age does not reduce job opportunities for younger generations. This is the right direction; it is important to find a wise way to share jobs across generations. However, since work trends among seniors are changing, it is necessary to create more diverse and innovative job opportunities. There should also be greater policy support for the “continued employment” system, which enables people to keep working even if it means earning less.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.