[The Era of 10 Million Seniors]⑪ "Senior Internship, Career-Utilizing Reemployed Workers and Hiring Companies Both Satisfied"

Huvis Jeonju Plant Participates in Senior Internship Program
Utilizing One Year of Experience to Work and Transfer On-Site Knowledge
Avoiding Elderly Poverty and Alleviating Idleness and Loneliness

"After retiring at the mandatory retirement age, I had to work again because I had to wait two years until the start of receiving the National Pension. Working again while being able to pass on my experience makes it twice as rewarding."

On the 2nd, we met Mr. Kim Jaeseok (65) at the Huvis Jeonju Plant in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do. He was in charge of machine equipment maintenance for 36 years at this company, which develops and produces textile materials, and retired at the age of 60 in 2019. Afterward, he was re-employed at a small business doing work unrelated to his experience but was laid off due to business deterioration and became a recipient of unemployment benefits. Meanwhile, the Huvis Jeonju Plant signed a business agreement with Jeonju City and the Korea Senior Human Resources Development Institute in February this year to create jobs for seniors and participated in the 'Senior Internship (Generation Integration Type)' project. Thanks to this project, Mr. Kim was re-employed at the factory he used to work at.

Mr. Kim Jae-seok, who was hired for the senior internship at Huvis Jeonju Plant this year, is passing on his know-how of maintaining recycled fiber machinery to a young mentee. Photo by Huvis Jeonju Plant

Until now, senior jobs have been skewed toward public-type and social service-type jobs such as volunteering at public facilities and environmental cleanup, but recently the government has been focusing on expanding private-sector senior jobs that encourage corporate participation. The Senior Internship project belongs to the private-type senior job support projects under the Ministry of Health and Welfare. If a company hires senior workers aged 60 or older as youth mentors for one year, the Korea Senior Human Resources Development Institute provides 3 million KRW per person to the company. Huvis Jeonju Plant was the first in Jeollabuk-do to introduce the Senior Internship. Huvis Jeonju Plant has set a model, and currently, the number of Senior Internship businesses in Jeollabuk-do has increased to three.

Senior interns can continue their work life while passing on their experience and skills to juniors, and companies can maintain skilled work through senior workers with rich field experience.

Han Miseon, the HR manager at Huvis Jeonju Plant, said, "The Senior Internship system is a win-win for both companies and individuals because companies can utilize skilled workers on-site, and retired seniors can support their households through economic activities."

The 40 senior interns working at Huvis Jeonju Plant pass on electrical and mechanical maintenance skills and know-how on setting operational conditions in the field to junior-level employees while working 40 hours a week. Their monthly salary is around 3 million KRW. Compared to public-type senior jobs funded by the government, which provide activity allowances within 290,000 KRW per month, the Senior Internship salary at Huvis Jeonju Plant is more than ten times higher. Jeong Chanmo, manager of the Management Support Team at Huvis Jeonju Plant, said, "Mentors participating in the Senior Internship are passing on skills to junior employees based on their long field experience, which helps stabilize on-site management. The satisfaction of re-employed seniors is high, and the labor cost for senior workers is set lower than the average wage, reducing the burden on companies."

The number of seniors who want to continue working even after mandatory retirement is steadily increasing. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s senior survey, participation in senior job projects among those aged 65 and older increased from 3.3% in 2008 to 6.7% in 2017 and 7.9% in 2020. When asked if they intend to participate in senior jobs in the future, 22.4% (in 2020) answered affirmatively. Accordingly, the government is conducting various types of projects related to senior job and social activity support, including public-type, social service-type, and private-type.

According to the Korea Senior Human Resources Development Institute, the number of public-type senior jobs increased from 608,000 last year to 654,000 this year, and social service-type jobs expanded from 80,000 to 141,000. Private-type jobs are also being strengthened. Private-type senior jobs include market-type, employment referral-type, senior internship, and senior-friendly companies. Among these, market-type jobs increased from 45,000 to 58,000, employment referral-type from 88,000 to 95,000, senior internship from 55,000 to 70,000 this year, and senior-friendly companies will maintain 20,000 as last year.

The Senior Human Resources Development Institute analyzed that the relative poverty rate of senior households participating in senior job projects is about 6.2 percentage points lower than that of non-participating households, the average monthly household income increases by 170,000 KRW, and health care expenses decrease by an average of 70,499 KRW per person per month. Annually, the medical cost reduction effect due to senior jobs amounts to 745.7 billion KRW.

Jo Hongyoung, deputy director of the Korea Senior Human Resources Development Institute, said, "Senior job projects are positive not only for maintaining employment but also for alleviating idleness and loneliness in old age."