The senior population aged 55 to 79 has exceeded 17 million, accounting for 37% of the total population aged 15 and older. Seven out of ten seniors expressed a desire to continue working, with the average desired working age reported at 73.6 years.
The National Data Agency released these findings on August 5 as part of its 'May 2026 Economic Activity Population Survey: Senior Supplementary Survey Results.'
As of May this year, the senior population (ages 55 to 79) stands at 17,017,000, an increase of 570,000 from the previous year. This group represents 37.0% of the total population aged 15 and older, which is 45,984,000.
The economically active senior population (employed plus unemployed) is 10,362,000, up by 352,000 from last year. The non-economically active population is 6,655,000, an increase of 218,000.
Among seniors, the number of employed individuals is 10,125,000, an increase of 344,000, while the number of unemployed is 238,000, up by 7,000. The labor force participation rate is 60.9%, the employment rate is 59.5%, and the unemployment rate is 2.3%, all remaining stable compared to the previous year.
By age group, the employment rate for those aged 55 to 64 is 71.5%, a 0.4 percentage point increase from the same month last year, while for those aged 65 to 79, it is 47.8%, up by 0.6 percentage points.
Seniors are primarily employed in the health and social welfare services sector (14.8%) and manufacturing (12.0%). The most common occupations are simple laborers (22.3%) and service workers (15.3%), while managers (2.1%) and sales workers (8.7%) are less represented.
However, only 30.5% of seniors continue to work in their main job, a slight increase of 0.4 percentage points from the previous year, indicating that seven out of ten have left their longest-held positions. The average tenure in their longest-held job is 17 years and 7.1 months, an increase of 0.5 months from last year.
The average age of those still working in their longest-held job is 62.6 years. For those who have left, the average age at retirement is 53.0 years, which is 0.1 years higher than the previous year.
The most common reasons for leaving a primary job include business downturns, shutdowns, or closures (24.9%), health deterioration (22.1%), and family caregiving (15.2%).
In the past year, 8,969,000 seniors received pensions, representing 52.7% of the senior population, a 1.0 percentage point increase from the previous year. The average monthly pension amount is 880,000 won, a 2.1% increase. Men receive an average of 1,130,000 won, while women receive 610,000 won, reflecting increases of 1.1% and 4.3%, respectively.
Among seniors who wish to continue working, 11,782,000 expressed this desire, an increase of 361,000 from the previous year. However, the proportion of those wishing to work is 69.2%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the previous year.
The average desired working age for these seniors is 73.6 years. When choosing a job, the most important factors are workload and working hours (30.8%), wage level (20.3%), and the possibility of continued employment (16.3%).
The most common desired monthly wage is over 3 million won (23.3%), followed by those wanting between 2 million and 2.5 million won (18.0%). Notably, the proportion of those wishing for a salary over 3 million won has increased by 1.8 percentage points from the previous year.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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