Among the elderly over 65 and living in Seoul, 3 out of 10 are working to make a living, and those who are working still have trouble covering their basic living costs. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan.6 (Korea Bizwire) – Among the elderly over 65 and living in Seoul, 3 out of 10 are working to make a living, and those who are working still have trouble covering their basic living costs.
According an infographic entitled ‘What Type of Work do the Elderly of Seoul Do?’ created by the Seoul Research Center, 1.260 million senior citizens over the age of 65 were living in Seoul, and 27 percent of them were employed. The infographic was made by analyzing data from the Seoul Research Center and Statistics Korea.
The average monthly income of a working senior citizen (self-employed and paid workers) was 1,467,000 won. Among the working senior citizens, 65.5 percent were self-employed, doubling the number of paid workers (34.5 percent).
Among the elderly who were self-employed, 43.8 percent engaged in sales, while 85.4 percent of the senior citizens who were paid workers engaged in jobs requiring simple labor such as janitors, cleaners and deliverers.
Elderly business owners worked an average of 68.4 hours a week, earning 1,593,000 won a month, while paid workers worked 56.4 hours a week, and were paid 1,228,000 won a month. The former turned out to be working 12 more hours a week and earning 365,000 won more a month.
Almost 70 percent of the working senior citizens answered that they worked to make a living.
‘To prepare for retirement’ (8.2 percent) ranked second, followed by ‘to search for the meaning of life’ (5.7 percent), ‘to get allowance’ (5.3 percent), ‘to keep healthy’ (2.9 percent), ‘to help children or other family members’ (2.8 percent), ‘to use my knowledge and aptitude’ (2.6 percent) and ‘as a spare time occupation’ (2.3 percent).
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
