This photo, provided by South Korea’s major builder Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., shows its artificial intelligence (AI) industrial robot capable of intricate tasks.
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The introduction of automation technology increases the retirement risk for older office workers, a central bank report said Tuesday.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) traced the employment situation of 962,404 workers between 25 and 69 years of age at 3,033 companies for three years from 2015 to 2017.
The survey showed that the retirement risk of older office workers was 3.62 times higher at the companies that introduced automation technology than at other companies that did not change their processes.
The retirement risk of older officer workers at the companies that introduced automation technology was 1.3 times higher than that of younger workers.
The report noted that the survey results could be seen as an indication that repetitive labor with some regularity was replaced by technology, or that the retirement risk was affected by the need to adapt to new work methods resulting from the introduction of automation technology.
The purchase of IT-related equipment increased the non-voluntary retirement risk of older workers by almost 50 percent, while having no impact on the retirement risk of younger workers.
The report explained that non-voluntary retirement means that employers have no intention to maintain the employment of the workers concerned. From the perspective of labor demand, it increases the retirement risk of older workers.
From an overall perspective, however, the introduction of automation technology lowers the retirement risk of workers in general.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
