Thursday, March 22, 2007
[IWS] AGING OF KOREA: Demographics and Retirement Policy in the Land of the Morning Calm [21 March 2007]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
GLOBAL AGING INITIATIVE
THE AGING OF KOREA: Demographics and Retirement Policy in the Land of the Morning Calm [21 March 2007]
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/070321_gai_agingkorea_eng.pdf
[full-text, 58 pages]
[excerpt]
Around the world societies and governments are confronting new challenges to old thinking about
the elderly and retirement. Rapid advances in medicine, diet, and living standards have increased life
expectancy in both the developed and developing worlds. Economic "miracles" have transformed many
societies by creating robust and growing urban middle classes where rural poverty was the norm only
a few generations ago. In country after country, this remarkable story is the same. Governments that had
been focused on the social impact of their productive workers dying too young now are worried about
those workers rapidly approaching retirement years and living too long—past the ability of their families,
their savings, or their government systems to provide for them.
In many ways Korea is one of the world's most extreme examples of these demographic challenges.
Its story is one of the most inspiring and at the same time its coming challenges will be some of the
most daunting. As outlined in this policy discussion, Korea's meteoric economic growth and health-care
advances have positively altered the fabric of Korean society. But as a consequence, Korea faces the challenge
of providing for one of the most rapidly aging populations on the planet. This calls for unique solutions
distinct from what has been suggested in markets like the United States, Europe, Japan, or China.
C O N T E N T S
FOREWORD 1
INTRODUCTION 2
CHAPTER 1
THE DEMOGRAPHICS AND ECONOMICS OF AN AGING KOREA 6
The Demographics of Korea's Age Wave 8
Modernization and Rising Old-Age Dependency 11
The Economic Challenges Ahead 14
CHAPTER 2
KOREA'S LOOMING RETIREMENT CRISIS 18
Korea's Public System: "High Contribution, Low Benefit" 20
Korea's Private System: From Severance Pay to Pensions 24
A New Direction for Reform 27
CHAPTER 3
AGING AND THE BROADER SOCIAL AGENDA 34
The Challenge of Longer Work Lives and a Graying Workforce 35
The Challenge of Balancing Jobs and Babies 37
The Challenge of Caring for the Frail Elderly 40
CONCLUSION
PROSPERING WHILE AGING 42
A NOTE ON DATA AND SOURCES 46
A KEY TO CHART SOURCE CITATIONS 48
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 49
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 50
ABOUT CSIS 51
ABOUT METLIFE 52
[Thanks to Shirl Kennedy at Docuticker.com for the tip].
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
GLOBAL AGING INITIATIVE
THE AGING OF KOREA: Demographics and Retirement Policy in the Land of the Morning Calm [21 March 2007]
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/070321_gai_agingkorea_eng.pdf
[full-text, 58 pages]
[excerpt]
Around the world societies and governments are confronting new challenges to old thinking about
the elderly and retirement. Rapid advances in medicine, diet, and living standards have increased life
expectancy in both the developed and developing worlds. Economic "miracles" have transformed many
societies by creating robust and growing urban middle classes where rural poverty was the norm only
a few generations ago. In country after country, this remarkable story is the same. Governments that had
been focused on the social impact of their productive workers dying too young now are worried about
those workers rapidly approaching retirement years and living too long—past the ability of their families,
their savings, or their government systems to provide for them.
In many ways Korea is one of the world's most extreme examples of these demographic challenges.
Its story is one of the most inspiring and at the same time its coming challenges will be some of the
most daunting. As outlined in this policy discussion, Korea's meteoric economic growth and health-care
advances have positively altered the fabric of Korean society. But as a consequence, Korea faces the challenge
of providing for one of the most rapidly aging populations on the planet. This calls for unique solutions
distinct from what has been suggested in markets like the United States, Europe, Japan, or China.
C O N T E N T S
FOREWORD 1
INTRODUCTION 2
CHAPTER 1
THE DEMOGRAPHICS AND ECONOMICS OF AN AGING KOREA 6
The Demographics of Korea's Age Wave 8
Modernization and Rising Old-Age Dependency 11
The Economic Challenges Ahead 14
CHAPTER 2
KOREA'S LOOMING RETIREMENT CRISIS 18
Korea's Public System: "High Contribution, Low Benefit" 20
Korea's Private System: From Severance Pay to Pensions 24
A New Direction for Reform 27
CHAPTER 3
AGING AND THE BROADER SOCIAL AGENDA 34
The Challenge of Longer Work Lives and a Graying Workforce 35
The Challenge of Balancing Jobs and Babies 37
The Challenge of Caring for the Frail Elderly 40
CONCLUSION
PROSPERING WHILE AGING 42
A NOTE ON DATA AND SOURCES 46
A KEY TO CHART SOURCE CITATIONS 48
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 49
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 50
ABOUT CSIS 51
ABOUT METLIFE 52
[Thanks to Shirl Kennedy at Docuticker.com for the tip].
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 8:55 AM
