Managers and Staff Alike Support Retirement Age Extension... The Reason Is 'This'

Seven Out of Ten Employees in Their 20s and 30s Support Extension
Economic Insecurity and Pension Gap Are the Main Reasons

A recent survey found that even young employees in their 20s and 30s agree on the need to extend the retirement age. Economic insecurity was cited as a major reason not only among older generations but also among younger people who must prepare for the future.

Senior job seekers looking at the job posting boards at the Senior Job Fair. Photo by Yonhap News

Remember&Company, which operates the business networking service 'Remember,' announced on the 19th that it conducted a survey on perceptions of retirement age extension among 1,037 employees. According to the results, 74% of respondents said that "the retirement age should be extended."

The approval rate for extending the retirement age was high across all age groups. It was especially high among those in their 60s (80.8%) and 50s (77.9%), but even among those in their 20s (67.9%) and 30s (70.4%), 7 out of 10 supported the idea, indicating broad generational consensus on the issue. When asked about the ideal retirement age, 60.2% of all respondents answered that 63 to 65 years old would be appropriate.

The most common reason cited for wanting to extend the retirement age was "stability in old age" (39%). This was followed by "income gap before receiving the national pension" (17.8%).

However, there were generational differences regarding how the policy should be implemented. Among respondents in their 20s, 28.6% prioritized reforming the wage system to focus on performance or job roles, while those in their 40s and 50s considered maintaining productivity through retraining older workers (27%) to be more important.

Joo Daewoong, Head of Research at Remember, said, "The focus of the retirement age extension debate should not be on generational conflict, but rather on how to fundamentally reform existing human resources systems."

Extending the retirement age is both a presidential campaign pledge and a key national policy for President Lee Jaemyung. During his candidacy, President Lee pledged to gradually raise the statutory retirement age from the current 60 to 65 by 2033, in line with changes in the national pension eligibility age. The government also announced, shortly after President Lee's election in June, that it would pursue legislation for retirement age extension within this year.