The jobs – and ageing faces – behind South Korea’s record low unemployment numbers

(Corrects to say unemployment, not employment in headline)

By Cynthia Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) -At age 69, Kim Jung-mi holds three jobs: she spends three hours getting a two-year previous house from kindergarten each weekday for $9 per hour, then washes greens at a retailer that sells kimchi. Often, she walks her neighbour’s canine.

That form of gig work amongst aged individuals has helped South Korea to log a record-setting run of low unemployment by means of February, at 2.7%, with virtually half of the job will increase pushed by individuals 60 and older.

Though the drift to low-paid, part-time work is a worldwide phenomenon, it has put South Korea on the prime of OECD’s scale measuring the non permanent employment charge for individuals 65 and older: 69% of that age group is working someplace, far greater than 38.1% in Japan and 13.2% for the peer group common.

The heavy focus of job will increase within the aged inhabitants exhibits the delicate nature of the home financial system, consultants say.

“I do know I am underpaid in comparison with a few of youthful individuals within the space, however the place else would I’m going if I do not take this chance?” Kim stated, including that she is joyful along with her present jobs after different roles resembling being a cleaner.

None of Kim’s jobs comes with any social safety advantages or the potential for significant wage will increase. Such jobs do little to spice up the nation’s non-public consumption, as many in Kim’s age group are working to barely escape poverty.

It additionally highlights a constant downside in Asia’s fourth-largest financial system, the place the United Nations estimates that the share of aged individuals will turn into the biggest of any nation by 2050.

The nation’s aged face the best threat of changing into suicidal, and the relative poverty charge for 65-year-olds and above in Korea is the best within the OECD. About 45% of that age group resides on lower than 50% of the median disposable revenue.

Wages are barely growing. Nominal wage progress for South Korea’s salaried employees was 1.7% final yr after a 0.3% achieve in 2020, information from Statistics Korea exhibits.

Yoon Jee-ho, a Citi economist based mostly in Seoul, says the excessive poverty charge exposes structural weak spot.

“Korea’s individuals aged above 65 are likely to have the next revenue poverty charge in comparison with different main economies, partly resulting from inadequate protection of the prevailing pension system in addition to not sufficient non-public financial savings,” Yoon stated.

The demographic squeeze is just not distinctive.

In Japan, senior residents have turn into an more and more necessary a part of the nation’s labour pool, as about 13% of the workforce are 65 or older, up from 9% in 2012. Greater than three-quarters are part-timers filling roles resembling cleaners, taxi drivers and store clerks.

James Cho, CEO of Korean cellular platform “Pleasehelp,” which connects job seekers to errand work, says many individuals on the cusp of retirement are simply as busy as those that are of their 20s and 30s it phrases of job looking out.

“There isn’t a age boundary; so long as one can use a sensible cellphone, the aged also can earn money,” Cho stated, including that there have been all types of gigs, together with catching cockroaches, staging a battle, and supply orders.

Conservative President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who promised to ship steady, non-public sector-led job progress, is inheriting an financial system that expanded on the quickest tempo in 11 years in 2021, with minimal wage at 42% greater that of 5 years in the past.

The fast-rising proportion of the aged inhabitants poses a rising menace to public funds, as extra individuals want social welfare at a time when tax income is ready to say no alongside a shrinking workforce.

“Retirement? I am unsure if I can ever do this; I’ll most likely be working so long as I can,” Kim stated.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Further reporting by Joori Roh. Enhancing by Gerry Doyle)