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The number of Korean women aged 60 and older who are working has risen significantly over the past decade, but their average personal income remains just 40% of that of their male counterparts, according to a new report.A report released Tuesday by the Korean Women’s Development Institute found that the employment rate among women aged 60 and older increased from 29.5% in 2015 to 39.0% in 2025, a gain of 9.5 percentage points. Over the same period, the employment rate for older men rose from 51.2% to 55.6%, narrowing the gender gap in employment from 21.7 percentage points to 16.6 percentage points.The analysis was based on data from the Korea Employment Information Service’s Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging.Despite the rise in employment, older women continue to earn substantially less than men. Women aged 60 to 79 reported an average annual personal income of 9.2 million won (US$6,090), compared with 22.78 million won (US$15,070) for men, or just 40.4% of the male average.Labor income accounted for 58.5% of older women’s personal income, averaging 5.38 million won annually. For men, labor income averaged 14.74 million won and made up 64.7% of total personal income.The study defined personal income as earnings from work, public pensions such as the National Pension Service, social security benefits, private pensions and other income sources. Income from assets, including financial investments and real estate, as well as basic livelihood benefits, was excluded from the analysis.A substantial gender gap was also found in public pension income. Older men received an average of 6.02 million won annually from public pensions, compared with 1.86 million won for women. The report attributed the disparity to differences in labor market participation and pension enrollment earlier in life. Because women historically faced greater barriers to entering the workforce and generally earned lower wages than men, those gaps have carried over into retirement income.Older female workers were also found to be more vulnerable to gaps in social insurance and retirement benefits.As of 2024, 49.1% of female wage earners aged 60 to 79 were not enrolled in the national pension system, compared with 33.7% of men. The share not covered by employment insurance stood at 58.8% for women and 47.2% for men. More than half of older female wage earners (51.3%) were not eligible for severance benefits, compared with 36.7% of men.Among the self-employed, women were also more likely than men to be excluded from the national pension and workers’ compensation insurance systems.The report called for measures to reduce gaps in social insurance and retirement benefits for older women and recommended tailored employment support programs that take into account workers’ previous careers and provide access to higher-quality jobs.It also urged the government to strengthen support services for older women within existing employment programs, expand vocational training opportunities suited to their needs, and offer consultation on labor rights and fair employment practices.Kim Nan-joo, the lead researcher on the report, said that while more older women are entering the workforce, they remain at a disadvantage in terms of income, social insurance coverage and retirement benefits.“Support for older women’s employment should go beyond simply increasing the number of jobs available,” Kim said. “Policies need to be designed to ensure that employment leads to stable income and stronger social safety nets.”By Son Ji-min, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
