Around 68.5 percent of the elderly Koreans reported wastepaper collection as a preferred income channel
An elderly South Korean woman is seen in this file photo. (Photo: Ed Jones/AFP)
South Korea has the highest poverty rate among elderly people despite more than 45 percent of its senior citizens being part of the labor force, according to a new survey.
About 43.4 percent of South Korean elderly people suffer from relative income poverty, according to the Pension Report 2021 published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of 38 developing nations.
The poverty rate in South Korea is more than three times the OECD average of 13.1 percent, reported the Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation (CPBC) of South Korea.
Professor Baek Seung-ho of the Department of Social Welfare at the Catholic University of Korea felt that the pension scheme in the country needs major revamping by drawing inspiration from the West.
“Western countries are responding to the problem of poverty among the elderly with a universal system,” said Professor Baek, Seoul Catholic Archdiocese’s website Good News reported.
He insisted that “the more universal the benefits, the lower the poverty rate.”
The Korean National Statistical Office’s Employment Trend Report for August 2022 indicated an increase in the number of elderlies in the country’s workforce.
The individuals aged 60 and above engaged in various employment increased from 41.1 percent in 2017 to 46.7 percent this year.
The data also revealed that 64.4 percent of individuals were in the age group of 60 to 64 and 38.6 percent were above 65 years.
The Senior Citizen Survey Report of 2020 released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare indicated a major part of the elderly took up various jobs to earn a living.
Among the respondents, 73.9 percent said that they were working to earn money for a living and 61.9 percent wanted to continue their jobs for the same reason.
Data from the Basic Research on the Status of the Elderly Collecting Wastepaper published by the Human Resources Development Institute for the Elderly, South Korea in 2017 indicated wastepaper collection as a major employment source for the senior population in the country.
Around 68.5 percent of the elderly individuals reported wastepaper collection as a preferred income channel.
The income earned from collecting wastepaper was found to average about 200,000 Won (US$ 139.87) per month and 2,200 Won (US$ 1.54) per hour on average.
To tackle the employment and income-related issues faced by the rapidly aging country various NGOs have stepped up to help them.
The NGO ‘Kulim’ develops safe and light carts and rents them free of charge to seniors who collect wastepaper. The advertisements on the carts help to cut the cost of rental charges.
“The ultimate goal is to increase the income of the elderly who collect wastepaper and to make an effort to create a safe and convenient wastepaper collection environment,” says Shin Yu-jin, CEO of Kulim.
The social enterprise ‘Lovely Paper’ buys the wastepaper collected by the elderly at a price higher than the market price of 300 Won (US$ 0.21) per kg and employs the elderly directly to make canvas from the wastepaper.
According to the South Korean National Statistical Office, the proportion of the population aged 65 and above in the country is expected to rise from 17.5 percent in 2022 to 46.4 percent in 2070.
Official census data released last December showed South Korea recorded the world’s lowest birth rate of 0.84 in 2020 and for the first time in its history, its population had fallen. Overall population growth fell from 1.49 percent in 2010 to 0.05 percent in 2019.
South Korea’s demographic trends and consequent challenges are similar to that of neighboring Japan, which has one of the world’s lowest birth rates and a super-aging society.
South Korea is Asia’s fourth-largest economy and ranks seventh globally in the human development index, but the aging population could challenge its economic growth, analysts say.
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