The number of seniors who found employment surpassed the number for youths in the second quarter of the year, a trend that is being repeated primarily due to a shift in demographics, data showed Friday.
According to Statistics Korea, 4.25 million people aged 60 and over found employment between April and June, more than the 4.03 million for young people aged 15-29. The employment number for the elderly is the highest on record so far and accounts for 15.9 percent of all people hired in the quarter.
Seniors outdid youths in landing jobs for the first time in the third quarter last year, by a margin of 33,000. The trend continued except for the first quarter this year.
Elderly job seekers study the recruitment bulletin. (Yonhap)
Officials say the demographic change from the low birthrate is the major cause behind the trend.
"The population of people 60 and older has outpaced the younger group, and the gap is widening," said Bin Hyun-jin, who monitors employment numbers at Statistics Korea. "Such structure is the main reason behind this reversal."
The growing number of impoverished seniors and the frozen labor market for the young generation also pushed the shift, other officials said, adding that higher employment of the elderly is not necessarily all positive.
A report released last year by the Korea Labor Force Development Institute for the Aged showed that 31.8 percent of the elderly hold menial jobs, an indication that they work for sustenance, since they do not have enough income after retirement.
Second-quarter figures from the statistics agency said the unemployment rate for youths was 10.4 percent, the highest since the counting method was revised in 1999. (Yonhap)
