Korea`s Retirement Ages are 67.1 for Men and 67.5 for Women

Korea and Japan have the highest number of elderly workers among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members.

This is due in part to increased life expectancy but there are indications that there are not enough social safety nets for stabilization of livelihood at old age, such as pension system, in place.

According to the OECD`s report on the Korean economy 2003 released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Sunday, "working force retirement age" averaged 67.1 among Korean men and 67.5 among Korean women during the 1994-1999 periods. Korean men ranked second and Korea women topped the list among the OECD member nations.

Japanese men ranked first with the retirement age of 69.1 and Japanese women second with 66.0. Japan and Korea have the highest number of elderly workers among OECD member.

And as for America, men retire at an average age of 65.1 while women at 64.2. Meanwhile, in Germany, which is famous for developed social welfare system, male workers` retirement age is 60.5 and that of female workers is 60.8. In other European nations, workers also usually retire around 60.

In terms of the proportion of elderly workers aged over 65 among the whole work force, Korea ranked first with 29.6%, followed by Japan with 21.8%, the U.S. with 13.1%, Germany with 5.0% and Britain with 4.8%.

The OECD report points out that most Korean elderly workers continue to work to avoid poverty and add to household income, so the country has the highest percentage of elderly workers among OECD nations, and that eliminating elderly poverty will be an important social issue and the nation should develop a system to guarantee income after retirement.

Kwang-Hyun Kim kkh@donga.com