The number of senior citizens engaged in economic activities reached an all-time high this year, data showed Tuesday.

Of the country’s 15.98 million people aged 55-79, 60.6 percent were economically active as of May, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The figure encompasses the currently employed, as well as those actively seeking to land a job.

The number of the employed among the age group rose by 316,000 on-year to 9.44 million, and the employment rate came to 59 percent, a record level.

Both the sheer number of working seniors and their proportion were the largest ever, the agency said.

The growth came as those who got a job in the health care and social welfare service sector went up by 126,000 to 1.21 million.

The number of those working for the agricultural and fishery industries came to 1.17 million, and it marked the first time that the health care and welfare sector had a greater number of senior workers than the farming field.

Th
e number of the unemployed and those in search of job opportunities also grew 46,000 from a year before to 247,000 this year, with the unemployment rate standing at 2.5 percent, according to the agency.

Of the total seniors, 51.2 percent received a pension, up 0.9 percentage point on-year.

They received 820,000 won (US$591) per month on average, up 9.6 percent from a year earlier.

The data also found that 69.4 percent of the age group, or 11.09 million, replied they wished to continue to or begin to work in the future.

As reasons, the largest share, or 55 percent, said they want to earn money, followed by 35.8 percent citing the pleasure of working.

More than five out of every 10 senior citizens said they want to have a full-time job, and 47.7 percent want to serve as part-timers.

South Korea is experiencing rapid aging amid a chronically low birthrate.

The proportion of those aged 65 and older is forecast to reach 20 percent in 2025, compared with 14 percent in 2018, and rise further to 46.4 percent i
n 2070, according to government data.

The total fertility rate, which means the average number of expected births from a woman in her lifetime, also hit a record low of 0.72 in 2023, which was far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration.

Source: Yonhap News Agency