In South Korea, the world's fastest ageing society, 33.1 per cent of people aged between 70 to 74 are still working, topping the OECD's scale measuring the employment for the age group and far higher than the OECD average of 15.2 per cent.
Central bank data shows over 230,000 of those aged 60 or over have found jobs at factories and construction sites since early 2020, while younger people have been leaving those sectors.
While South Korea's foreign worker contingent, at 848,000, is relatively small compared with other industrialised economies, migrants make an important contribution to the factory sector.
Since early 2020, the monthly inflow of new foreign workers is about 35 per cent of what the country had in 2019, before the pandemic, government data showed.
Japan is experiencing a similar problem, with strict pandemic controls keeping migrant labour out, prompting an even greater reliance on the elderly population to fill vacancies.
Hwang at Iljin Enterprise says while the physical demands of work at his factory make it better suited for younger foreign and local workers, he doesn't have much choice.
"If I can't get any younger folks or foreign workers, it would be my bottom choice but I might need to hire more older folks," said Hwang, who recently gave all his crew a raise on top of the 700,000 won monthly bonuses he gave his foreign staff.
The government said last week it plans to loosen visa restrictions and cut red tape for foreign workers to help fill vacancies.
For Kim Ji-hwang, a land developer in Danyang, two-and-a-half hours south of Seoul, a staff shortage prompted him to hire 64-year-old Park Jang-young.
Park's new job requires him to clean trucks and equipment at the development site and earns him about 3.7 million won (US$2,844.18) a month, significantly more than his previous job at a parking lot.
"I know my boss prefers to find younger folks but young people go to Seoul after graduation - even foreign workers are picky, they have a good network and community to share information about pay, working conditions," Park said. "I will stick to this job unless I get fired - it's good pay I think for my age."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMidGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3Mvc291dGgta29yZWEtZm9yZWlnbi1sYWJvdXItY3J1bmNoLXB1dHMtb2xkZXItd29ya2Vycy1iYWNrLWZhY3Rvcmllcy0yODgyNzk20gEA?oc=5
2022-08-15 23:11:00Z
CBMidGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3Mvc291dGgta29yZWEtZm9yZWlnbi1sYWJvdXItY3J1bmNoLXB1dHMtb2xkZXItd29ya2Vycy1iYWNrLWZhY3Rvcmllcy0yODgyNzk20gEA
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