Yoon’s advisory group recommends extension of retirement age from current 60

SEOUL– President Yoon Suk-yeol’s expert advisory group on labor reform has proposed the government should actively seek to extend the retirement age from the current 60, the labor ministry said Tuesday.

On Monday, the Future Labor Market Research Association, a labor policy advisory group launched by Yoon in July, made a set of recommendations calling for a sweeping labor market reform, including adjusting the 52-hour workweek.

Among them was a recommendation urging the government to “seek a systemic reform, including on the wage system, to enable the continuation of employment after the age 60,” the ministry said.

Having been launched at the mandate of Yoon, the advisory group’s recommendations are highly likely to morph into actual labor policies under the Yoon administration. The labor ministry was also reportedly in a stance to accept many of the recommendations.

“Extending the employment (age) is a task that should be urgently resolved given the fast increase of the elderly population and the need to keep up the economic vivacity,” the group said, adding the country cannot address the issues with the current retirement age of 60.

It also recommended a gradual increase of the entitlement age for the national pension benefits from the current 62 to 65 by 2033. Under the recommendation, the pension entitlement age would go up to 63 in 2023 and 64 in 2028 before reaching 65.

Source: Yonhap News Agency