What is the positive effect of extending the retirement age?

First, for the Korean government, there is the advantage that the extension of the retirement age will solve the problem of the working age population, which has decreased since 2017. A labor force is essential for a country’s economic development. The working age population refers to a population capable of economic activities. However, Korea's productive population peaked at 37.57 million in 2017, and has continued to decline. This raises the need for the elderly to engage in economic activities. The extension of the retirement age can help solve the problem of reducing the productive population as skilled people will engage in economic activities. In addition, the National Pension Service's financial problems can be solved, and the elderly can work in high-quality jobs for a longer time. The legal retirement age in Korea is 60, but the national pension payment period starts at 65. Therefore, there is a gap between the retirement age and the age of receiving one’s pension. This is one of the reasons why there are criticisms that the welfare for the elderly is insufficient. After retirement, the elderly usually work underpaid in temporary jobs. However, if the retirement age is extended and job conditions for the elderly improve, the need for other welfare services will decrease. At the same time, the financial problems of the National Pension Service will be eased.

There are some opinions that extending the retirement age will aggravate generation conflict. What is your thought about it?

Experts believe that there is a difference between the job group specifications of young people who are entering the labor market and workers who are nearing retirement age. Recently, Hyundai Motor's labor union insisted on extending the retirement age. Hyundai Motor's labor union represents the position of production workers. However nowadays, young people are preferring whitecollar jobs such as Research & Development or management rather than production works. According to several statistics, employment of young people and the extension of the retirement age are not related. Though, the media expresses it as a generational conflict, and young people who are struggling with employment may be frustrated that someone (elderly workers) is working in the job where they can work. In response, the government should consider the issue of generational conflict and proceed with the retirement age extension policy.

Do you think there is a need to discuss extending the retirement age?

Yes. Other developed countries are changing their retirement ages as society changes. Japan has set its retirement age as 68 by law. The United States of America does not have a legal retirement age. The law prevented setting a retirement age since it could lead to age discrimination. Therefore, Korea must extend its retirement age to solve social problems such as our aging population and the decreasing working age population. However, it is imperative to consider when and how it should be. If it starts right now, public debate is not easy due to the scale of generational conflicts and opposite public opinion. Therefore, it is important to create a social opinion organization where the public can share opinions about youth unemployment and the extension of the retirement age.

Is there something more you want to say about the issue?

The extension of the retirement age must be achieved. However, there is a need for discussion about that policy. Instead of just setting the retirement age at an arbitrary number, it should be applied in various ways. If the age is set by law, there will be corporations’ oppositions. Thus, government should think about various things such as setting a retirement age as a law, but also extending contracts through agreement between labor and management, or extending the retirement age of businesses on its own without setting a retirement age as a law. In other words, instead of establishing a legal retirement age, modifying it depending on the business situation or applying it through agreement between labor and management is also possible. In addition, the retirement age of Korea is set at 60 by law, but those in office and sales positions at large corporations, that are not protected by labor unions, are often forced to retire before then. Like this, the phenomenon in which retirement age and actual retirement age differ significantly is called ‘retirement decoupling.’ Therefore, some say the legal retirement age is unnecessary because ‘retirement decoupling’ is often happening in Korea. As such, Korea’s retirement age system needs many revisions. I hope that a solution to the extension of retirement age will be found through social consensus soon.