Most South Koreans Don’t Believe They’ll Retire By 60

Seven out of 10 South Korean workers believe that retiring at 60 is an elusive dream, a recent survey said.

Polling 1,477 workers, Job Korea found 60.3 years as the desired retirement age, Korea Times reported. However, a whopping 74.1% said:

“It is impossible to work until 60 years of age without resigning from the current office.”

Men and women’s retirement preferences differ. On average, men wanted to work until 61.3 years, while women would cap off at 58.4 years.

Meanwhile, workers in their 20s want to work until 59.1 years, while those aged 40 or older hoped to work until 61.6 years.

There are also interesting differences in the preferences of working groups. Apparently, production and technical workers wanted to work longest, enduring 62.1 years.

They are followed by professionals (61.1 years), service workers (60.6) and sales-administrative workers (60.3).

South Korea is known to have one of the world’s highest average work weeks and overtime hours. A 2015 survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that its employees worked an average of 2,163 hours each year, compared to 1,388 in Germany, BBC noted.

To relax working conditions, the South Korean government launched a work-life balance campaign earlier this year. It incorporated the following principles:

Don’t ask reasons for leave of absence (addressed to employers);
Don’t make phone calls or send messages outside working hours;
Share knowledge about expressions that help or deter work-family balance; and
Induce top managers to participate in the drive.

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