[비즈한국] In the 2026 budget proposal, the first to embody the policy philosophy of the Lee Jae-myung administration, the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s budget was increased by over 2 trillion won to 37.6157 trillion won. This budget increase is intended to strengthen employment safety nets for vulnerable groups, including the elderly. In fact, the budget includes programs that provide customized training to expand re-employment support for middle-aged and older adults.
Furthermore, the support budget for social enterprises—which faced a survival crisis due to deep cuts during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration—has been restored, despite these enterprises providing jobs for vulnerable groups including the elderly. The reason the Lee Jae-myung administration is increasing or restoring budgets for job creation for the elderly is that South Korea’s elderly poverty rate is the highest among OECD member countries, leading to a record-high proportion of elderly people seeking employment.
However, as it turns out that the elderly have the lowest job retention rate in the OECD and face the highest level of age discrimination, experts point out that it is urgent to go beyond simply increasing the number of jobs and create stable employment where the elderly can work with peace of mind.
According to the 2026 budget proposal prepared by the Lee Jae-myung administration, next year’s Ministry of Employment and Labor budget increased by 2.2705 trillion won (6.4%) compared to this year. The increased budget within the Ministry has also been reflected in projects for the elderly. In fact, 10.2 billion won—double last year’s amount—will be invested in specialized courses for the middle-aged and elderly at Korea Polytechnic University, and a new integrated incentive for elderly workers has been established with a budget of 10.7 billion won.
The budget related to social enterprises, which had helped with elderly employment, was significantly increased from 28.4 billion won this year to 118 billion won in 2026. The budget for social enterprises was at the 202.2 billion won level in 2023, but was drastically slashed under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration; it has now recovered more than fourfold. However, it is still only half the level it was three years ago. The government has set out to significantly increase the budget for jobs for the elderly because there are so many older adults seeking work due to poverty.
According to the OECD, the poverty rate for the population aged 65 and over in Korea is 41.35%, which is overwhelmingly high among the 32 OECD member countries with available statistics. This means three out of every five elderly people over the age of 65 are suffering from poverty. The country with the next highest poverty rate for those over 65 after Korea is Estonia, formerly part of the Soviet Union, at 34.66%, which is about 5 percentage points lower than Korea.
In the case of the United States, famous for its large wealth gap, the poverty rate for those over 65 was 20.50%, half that of Korea. In Japan, the poverty rate for those over 65 was 17.31%. Denmark, which has the lowest poverty rate, stood at 3.35%, just one-twelfth of Korea’s level.
With such a high poverty rate, the percentage of older adults who are employed is the highest among OECD countries. Looking at the employment rate for the 55–64 age group, Korea recorded 30.29%, the highest among the 35 OECD member countries with relevant data. This is about three times higher than the OECD average of 9.5%. Conversely, the proportion of elderly people aged 60–64 who actually retain their jobs was 26.64%, the lowest among OECD member countries.
Compared to the OECD average of 52.51%, the job retention rate is essentially half. Due to high poverty, they cannot give up working even as they age, yet it is not easy to maintain a job simply because of their age.
The bigger problem is that elderly people in Korea are the most likely among OECD member countries to face age discrimination in the workplace. According to the "2025 OECD Employment Outlook," in a survey conducted by the OECD across 12 member countries, the percentage of elderly workers who reported being discriminated against due to age was highest in Korea at 61%.
This is 21 percentage points higher than the 12-country average of 40%. Brazil, at 60%, joined Korea as the only other country with a reported age discrimination rate above 60%. Italy (42%), France (42%), and Spain (40%) were in the 40% range, followed by the U.S. (37%), Finland (34%), and the U.K. and Canada (33%) in the 30% range. Japan, our neighbor with a large elderly population, was at 28%, less than half of Korea’s level, and Germany was the country with the least age discrimination at 25%.