(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s manufacturing workforce has been aging fast over the past 10 years, stoking concerns that it may undercut the country’s growth potential drastically down the road, a report said Monday.
People aged 50 and older accounted for 30.1 percent of the country’s total manufacturing workers in 2020, up from 15.7 percent 10 years earlier, according to the report from the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI).
In contrast, the ratio of manufacturing workers in their 30s fell to 27.8 percent from 35.1 percent over the cited period, the sharpest drop among all age groups.
The percentage of manufacturing employees aged 15-29 declined to 15.2 percent from 21.6 percent, with that of workers in their 40s inching down to 26.9 percent from 27.7 percent.
KERI, the research arm of South Korea’s conglomerate lobby Federation of Korean Industries, said the near twofold increase in the number of senior manufacturing workers shows how serious the aging of the country’s manufacturing workforce is.
The think tank pointed out that South Korea’s manufacturing workers have been aging much quicker than those in the United States and Japan.
The average age of South Korean manufacturing employees rose by 3.3 years to 42.4 years in 2020 from 39.2 years in 2011.
The comparable figure for Japan edged up to 42.8 from 41.6 over the cited period, with that for America increasing to 44.4 from 44.1.
KERI attributed the fast aging of South Korea’s manufacturing workforce mainly to the country’s low birthrate and rapid population aging.
South Korea has one of the lowest birthrates in the world. The country is widely expected to become a super-aged society in 2025, in which the proportion of those aged 65 and older will hit 20 percent of the total population.
The country became an aged society in 2017, as the proportion of such people exceeded 14 percent.
(Yonhap)
