Increasing Elderly Population and High Poverty Rate Raise Fiscal Burden... Growing Importance of Elderly Social Participation and Jobs
Supporting Creation of Competitive Jobs like Haengju Farms, Grandmothers with Sewing Machines, and Senior Convenience Stores
Mayor Lee Dong-hwan: "Expanding Quality Market-Type Elderly Jobs Capable of Generating Income"
Goyang Special City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Dong-hwan) announced on the 30th that it supports competitive senior job projects to promote active social participation, stable employment, and income generation for the elderly.
This year, 8,380 people are participating in senior job projects in three sectors in Goyang City. In the public sector, 6,000 participate in public interest activities and 1,270 in social service types, while 1,110 participate in the private sector in areas such as manufacturing and sales, store operation, service provision, and employment placement. The scale of this year’s project increased by 26% compared to last year, making it the largest among cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province.
The target participants for senior jobs are generally aged 65 or older, working 30 hours per month, with slight differences in participation age, working hours, and salary levels depending on the type of project. Participating organizations include 11 institutions such as Goyang Senior Club, Goyang Silver Workforce Bank, three senior comprehensive welfare centers, and three district senior associations.
Mayor Lee Dong-hwan of Goyang Special City stated, “The senior job project provides active social participation and small jobs to add vitality to life and helps economic stability through income generation. We are actively discovering and expanding market-type job projects that can secure competitiveness in the private sector, moving away from simple labor-centered public sector job projects.”
Increasing Elderly Population and High Poverty Rate... Growing Importance of Senior Social Participation and Employment
As of July this year, the population aged 65 and over in South Korea exceeds 10.024 million, accounting for about 19.5% of the total population. The retirement of the baby boom generation and aging have rapidly increased the population aged 65 and over, and next year, the country is expected to enter a super-aged society with an elderly population ratio exceeding 20%.
According to the OECD’s “Pensions at a Glance 2023” released last year, South Korea’s elderly poverty rate was 40.4% in 2020, which is about three times higher than the OECD average of 14.2%. South Korea’s pension income replacement rate is 50.9% for low-income groups and 31.2% overall, far below the OECD averages of 64.5% for low-income groups and 51.8% overall.
The increase in the elderly population and high poverty rate have heightened the importance of senior social participation and employment, leading to increased demand for elderly welfare and financial burdens. With 20% of the population elderly, a cash-spending, handout-style welfare system is becoming financially unsustainable. It is pointed out that various social participation opportunities should be provided to secure economic independence, along with programs for self-development, education, and skill enhancement.
Mayor Lee Dong-hwan emphasized, “Public sector-supported public-type jobs mostly have restrictions on working hours and duration, limiting continuous income generation. From the demand side, securing stable income and employment is important, so efforts are needed to continuously expand competitive and income-generating market-type jobs to improve job quality.”
Goyang City Expands Income-Generating Senior Jobs... Wins Grand Prize at Manifesto Excellence Awards
Goyang Special City is actively supporting and expanding private market-type senior jobs capable of generating income, such as Haengju Farm, Grandmother and Sewing Machine, and Senior Convenience Stores.
The ‘Haengju Farm’ project group produces sesame oil and perilla oil certified by HACCP. They sell their products at a total of 18 local food stores operated by the Goyang and Paju Agricultural Cooperatives, as well as online shopping malls such as Naver Store, Coupang, and Gyeonggi Province’s company Chakchakchak. They produce various products responding to recent consumer trends, including stick-type sesame and perilla oils and three types of roasted sesame seeds, recording stable sales performance.
Additionally, they apply design elements to production packaging containers and labels and use a premium strategy to enhance the product image. Monthly ingredient inspections are conducted, and a production management system is implemented to provide safe food that consumers can trust.
The ‘Grandmother and Sewing Machine’ project group is responsible for producing and selling sewn products and clothing repairs using sewing machines. They produce various products such as vests, aprons, arm sleeves, insulated bags, cup holders, comfort dolls, eco-bags, raincoats, and picnic mats. They also produce the ‘Dabok Package,’ a birth congratulatory gift provided by Goyang City upon the birth registration of the third or subsequent child.
Participants join the project based on their past experience in sewing-related work such as tailoring shops, minimizing career breaks. This is a career-connecting senior job project that allows the skills and experience possessed by the elderly not to be wasted due to retirement but to be used again in the local community. Participants have high motivation and satisfaction with their jobs. Through local government birth promotion policies and agreements with social enterprises, they diversify sales channels and create new value.
Goyang Senior Club was the first in the nation to start operating the ‘GS25 Senior Convenience Store,’ which became a pilot project for senior jobs in Gyeonggi Province and has expanded nationwide this year. Twenty-eight people participate at two locations in Goyang City (Jungsan Sandeul Branch and Juyop Hansarang Branch).
The senior convenience store is a senior job project that operates convenience stores in partnership with companies to generate income and has shown positive effects. Market-type senior job projects face the greatest difficulty in developing sales channels for produced products, but the senior convenience store has the advantage of a lower burden in sales channel development. At the senior convenience store (Juyop Hansarang Branch), they also accept clothing repairs linked with the Grandmother and Sewing Machine project and provide a visiting service.
In August, Goyang Special City introduced the cases of Haengju Farm, Grandmother and Sewing Machine, and GS25 Senior Convenience Store at the 2024 Manifesto Excellence Case Competition jointly hosted by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters and Gyeongnam Research Institute, receiving the grand prize as a leading senior job project for a prosperous old age.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
