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Ageing workers in East Asia are essential. More are needed
Yet they often face high barriers to employment and unpalatable options
Apr 27th 2026|SEOUL AND TOKYO|6 min read
HONDA TAMIKO began working as a child on her family’s farm back when Japan was at war with America. Now 93, Ms Honda still puts in a hard day’s toil as a janitor at a McDonald’s branch in Kumamoto, in southern Japan. Ms Honda says her pension is plenty to live off; she chooses to keep showing up. “Humans are animals, after all,” she chuckles. “We have to keep moving as much as we can.”
Ms Honda is the oldest in McDonald’s crew of some 220,000 in Japan. But she is less an outlier than a harbinger. As people live longer, they are staying healthy for longer and working longer, too. Japan and its neighbour South Korea, two of the most rapidly ageing countries, are at the forefront of this transition. Nearly 40% of South Koreans and more than 25% of Japanese aged above 65 remain at work, the highest rates in the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries (see chart). But labour markets and social systems designed for a different demographic era struggle to make the most of those who can work and to support those who can’t.
Many people in both Japan and South Korea keep working out of necessity. More than half of elderly employees in Japan say they work for income. The financial pressure is even greater in South Korea, where the pension system failed to keep pace with the country’s rapid development after the Korean war, leaving generations of people with inadequate support. The average public pension replaces only about a third of workers’ pre-retirement income, so nearly 40% of South Koreans over 65 make less than half the median income, the highest rate in the OECD. Many in South Korea fear being made to retire too early: bus drivers in Seoul went on strike earlier this year demanding that the retirement age be raised. “In the past, 65 was considered quite elderly, but now, even at 65, people live a youthful life,” says Shin Gyo-beom, who drives Seoul’s bus number 107. “Wouldn’t it be better for someone more experienced to drive?”
Yet money is only part of the story. Many want to keep working for other reasons. “There is infinite value that can’t be quantified in monetary terms,” says Kim Mi-gon of the Korea Labour Force Development Institute for the Aged, a think-tank. Staying employed can help stave off health problems and keep loneliness at bay.
“When you’re this age, if you stay at home, you lose it mentally and physically,” says Ms Honda, who belongs to McDonald’s Japan’s “Premium Age Crew”, as employees over 60 are known. “My family keeps telling me to quit, but I know that if I stop working and stay at home I’ll be a burden to them and end up in a facility.”
Across East Asia, studies show older people who keep working tend to be less frail and less likely to report depressive symptoms. (The direction of causality is hard to establish, however.) Ro Ick-kyun, a 60-year-old from Hanam, east of Seoul, has had several jobs since he retired from his original career as a corporate executive. “My wife says when I work I seem younger and more full of energy,” he smiles.
Some companies are making concerted efforts to use older workers. Consulting on later-stage career options has become common practice at large Japanese firms. Companies are adjusting roles and responsibilities to accommodate older workers. The boss of a car-repair shop in Kashiwazaki, a small city in northern Japan, says that with fewer young people, he needs to get more out of his existing staff.
Yet too often those who want to keep working face high barriers and unpalatable options. Lots of human capital is wasted, argues Randall Jones, a former head of the Japan/Korea desk at the OECD. Seniority-based wage and promotion systems are still common in Japan and South Korea, which makes keeping workers on full-time staff contracts costly for companies. Many thus rehire older workers after their official retirement on new temporary contracts with reduced pay and responsibilities.
Those who look for new jobs can struggle, not least because discrimination is rampant. “Korean case law and social norms tend to view hiring discrimination based on age…as reasonable,” says Kwon O-hun, a labour lawyer at Gapjil119, a South Korean watchdog that combats workplace abuse. Some start small businesses. Others take on temporary work as cleaners, carers or security guards. “There’s a huge mismatch: lots of supply of desk workers and lots of demand for menial work,” says Kitao Sagiri of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. “The skills older folks accumulated are not necessarily what’s needed.”
Those who struggle to find new jobs can turn to a host of government programmes and agencies to support older workers. South Korea’s national government finances over 1m part-time jobs for seniors as a quasi-welfare policy. The Seoul 50Plus Foundation, an arm of the capital’s municipal government, aims to help those on the cusp of retirement from their first career plan for a second one. At one airy outpost in the city’s east, older jobseekers can get advice on how to polish their résumés or receive training in AI. Japan has more than 1,300 Silver Human Resource Centres, which help match people aged 60 or above with job opportunities, from caring for even older folk to cleaning up family gravesites for those not up to visiting.
Policymakers want to encourage these trends. Keeping people employed for longer helps compensate for the shrinking number of young people in both countries; to the extent it keeps people fit, it also helps reduce health- and nursing-care costs. Since 2006 Japan has encouraged firms to offer job opportunities until the age of 65; in 2021, the government began urging employers to keep workers on until 70. In 2013 South Korea raised its statutory retirement age from 59 to 60. But that does not tackle the underlying issue about what kind of work older people should do.
Getting the most out of those who can keep working while providing support to those who cannot will require a more ambitious redesign of social systems and hiring practices. For older workers it also means reconceiving the latter stages of a working life as something more akin to the beginning of it. Murazeki Fumio, the head of Koureisha, a temporary-employment agency for elderly workers in Japan, encourages his new employees to shed their attachments to their old roles: “I always tell everyone: once you’re over 65, approach it as if you were a new hire, with the mindset of starting over from scratch.” ■
東亞高齡勞工不可或缺：需求日益增加，卻仍面臨重重障礙與無奈選擇
2026年4月27日 | 首爾與東京報導
本田民子（Honda Tamiko）在童年時期就開始在自家的農場工作，當時日本正與美國交戰。如今已 93 歲高齡的本田女士，依然在日本南部熊本市的一家麥當勞分店擔任清潔員，每天辛勤工作。本田女士表示她的養老金足夠生活，但她選擇繼續露面工作。「人類終究是動物，」她笑著說，「我們必須盡可能地保持活動。」
本田女士是日本麥當勞約 22 萬名員工中最年長的一位。但她與其說是一個特例，不如說是一個先兆。隨著人類壽命延長，健康壽命也隨之增加，工作時間也變得更長。日本與鄰國南韓作為全球高齡化最快速的兩個國家，正處於這場轉型的最前線。南韓 65 歲以上的人口中有近 40% 仍在工作，日本則超過 25%，這是經濟合作暨發展組織（OECD，主要由富裕國家組成的俱樂部）中最高的比例。然而，為不同人口結構時代所設計的勞動力市場與社會體制，正難以充分發揮有能力工作者的潛力，也難以支援那些無法工作的人。
許多日韓的高齡者是出於必要性而持續工作。日本超過半數的高齡員工表示，他們是為了收入而工作。而在南韓，財務壓力更為沉重，因為當地的養老金制度未能跟上韓戰後國家快速發展的步伐，導致好幾代人缺乏充足的支援。平均公共養老金僅能替代勞工退休前收入的三分之一，因此南韓 65 歲以上的人口中，近 40% 的收入低於中位數的一半，比例居 OECD 之冠。許多南韓人擔心太早被迫退休：首爾的公車司機在今年早些時候發動罷工，要求提高退休年齡。「過去 65 歲被認為非常老，但現在即使是 65 歲，大家生活得還是很年輕，」駕駛首爾 107 號公車的申教範（Shin Gyo-beom）說，「讓更有經驗的人來開車不是更好嗎？」
然而，金錢並非故事的全貌。許多人是為了其他原因想繼續工作。「有些無限的價值是無法用金錢衡量的，」韓國高齡勞工發展研究院（一個智庫）的金美坤（Kim Mi-gon）表示。維持就業有助於延緩健康問題，並防止孤獨。
「到了這個年紀，如果一直待在家裡，你的身心都會崩潰，」本田女士說，她是日本麥當勞「銀髮菁英組」（Premium Age Crew，指 60 歲以上的員工）的一員。「家人一直叫我辭職，但我知道如果我不工作待在家，就會成為他們的負擔，最後落入安養機構。」
在整個東亞，研究顯示持續工作的高齡者往往較不虛弱，且較少出現憂鬱症狀（然而，因果關係的方向尚難確定）。來自首爾東部河南市、60 歲的盧益均（Ro Ick-kyun）自從結束原本的企業高管生涯退休後，已經換過幾份工作。「我太太說我工作的時候看起來更年輕、更有活力，」他笑著說。
部分公司正有意識地運用高齡員工。在日本大型企業中，針對職涯後期的諮詢已成為慣例。公司正在調整職位與職責以適應高齡員工。日本北部小城柏崎市的一家修車廠老闆表示，隨著年輕人減少，他需要從現有的員工中發揮更大的價值。
然而，那些想繼續工作的人往往面臨高門檻與無奈的選擇。OECD 前日韓事務主管藍道爾·瓊斯（Randall Jones）認為，許多人力資源被浪費了。日本與南韓仍普遍採用年功序列制（依年資敘薪與晉升），這使得公司保留全職高齡員工的成本極高。因此，許多公司在員工正式退休後，以薪水降低、職責減少的新型臨時合約重新聘僱他們。
那些尋找新工作的人則面臨困難，尤其年齡歧視依然猖獗。南韓勞權監督組織 Gapjil119 的律師權五勳（Kwon O-hun）表示：「南韓的判例與社會規範往往認為基於年齡的招聘歧視……是合理的。」有些人選擇創業，其他人則從事清潔工、看護或警衛等臨時工作。東京政策研究大學院大學的北尾早霧（Kitao Sagiri）指出：「這裡存在巨大的錯配：大量想做辦公室工作的勞動力供應，與大量體力活的需求。高齡者累積的技能未必是市場所需要的。」
找不到新工作的人可以尋求政府計畫與機構的支援。南韓政府資助了超過 100 萬個高齡者兼職職位，作為準福利政策。首爾 50Plus 基金會（市府下屬機構）旨在幫助那些即將從第一職涯退休的人規畫第二人生；在首爾東部一個明亮的服務據點，高齡求職者可以諮詢如何修改簡歷，或接受 AI 培訓。日本則擁有 1,300 多個「銀髮人才中心」，幫助 60 歲及以上的人媒合工作，從照顧更高齡的老人到為無法親自前往的人清理祖墳等。
決策者希望鼓勵這些趨勢。延長就業時間有助於補足兩國日益萎縮的年輕勞動力；只要能讓長者保持健康，也有助於降低醫療與護理成本。自 2006 年起，日本鼓勵企業提供工作機會至 65 歲；2021 年起，政府開始敦促雇主讓員工工作到 70 歲。2013 年，南韓將法定退休年齡從 59 歲提高到 60 歲。但這些舉措並未解決底層的核心問題：高齡者究竟該做什麼樣的工作？
要從有能力工作者身上獲得最大價值，同時支援無法工作者，需要對社會體制與招聘慣例進行更具雄心的重新設計。對於高齡勞工來說，這也意味著需要將職涯後期視為某種「新開始」。日本高齡者人力派遣公司 Koureisha 的負責人村關文雄（Murazeki Fumio）鼓勵新員工放下對過去職位的執念：「我總是告訴大家：一旦你超過 65 歲，就要把自己當作新進員工，以從零開始的心態出發。」■
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