The Study Of Population Aging And Senior Citizen Employment Policies In Japan And South Korea

Population aging has started to pose an important influence on people’s life. In thecountry which has a high level and speed of population aging, the population agingleads to the shortage of labor force and the aging of labor force; meanwhile, theintensity of population aging also aggravates the burden of society in terms ofsupporting older people. Undoubtedly, the senior citizen employment is an importantroute of relieving the shortage of labor force and the burden of supporting olderpeople.Japan and South Korea are both in the leading position among countries whichhave the highest level of population aging. In2013, the population of people aged65and above reached31,000,000, making up25.1%of the total population (or there isone person age65and above in every four people) in Japan. In the1970s, the progressof population aging started to accelerate in South Korea; in2013, people aged65andabove reached more than6,100,000, making up12.2%of the total population. Japanand South Korea have the highest speed of population aging, and it takes only24yearsand18years respectively for their old age ratio doubling (from7%to14%), which ismuch faster than other countries.In Japan and South Korea, the employment of older people can add the supply oflabor force and alleviate the burden of supporting the elderly. The irreversiblepopulation aging has grave influence on society and economy in Japan and SouthKorea, whereby impacting the employment of older people directly and indirectly.Population aging changes the population structure of Japan and South Korea,reduces the scale and ratio of working age population, and meanwhile leads to theaging of working age population. Those factors combined lead to the slowdown of economic growth or even the economy recession. While on the flip side, the populationaging in Japan and South Korea lowers the ratio of working age population and bringsabout the problem of labor force supply, which indirectly promotes the development ofthe employment of older people.The aggregation of population aging leads to the rise of senior citizen dependencyratio and adds the burden of society in supporting older people, which together bringabout huge pressure on old age security. In order to alleviate the pressure,encouragement and support of the employment of older people, and delay of theretiring age should be in place so that the burden of pension security could bealleviated to some extent.Various regulations and policies of Japan and South Korea governments providesecurity for the employment of older people. In Japan and South Korea, the policyresponse of population aging and the senior citizen employment policy are carried outas national policies. There is a specialized committee for policymaking and policyadjustment; at the same time, the committee plays an important role in coordinating thestrength of various departments of the government to address the issue of populationaging together.In order to encourage senior citizen employment, Japan and South Korea’sgovernments both have various policies which have legal validity and those policiesemphasize the enterprise’s duty to employ the senior citizens, and the governmentskeep perfect the relevant policies.In both Japan and South Korea, the central finance budgets great fundings tosecure successful implementation of senior citizen employment policies. Thegovernments encourage senior citizen employment policies through:a) encouragingolder people to actively take part in economic activities;b)encouraging enterpriseemployers employing older people; and c) providing more job opportunities to olderpeople. Each one of the three policies has the corresponding policy support, forexample, in terms of senior citizen employment, both Japan and South Korea’sgovernments offer the deduction of subsidy of re-employment after retirement, in order to encourage senior citizens enthusiasm of employment.In Japan and South Korea, the postpone of retiring age and adjustment of the ageof drawing public pension are pay into practice to promote the senior citizenemployment. Since the1970s, Japan has considered postponing the retiring age,following the mechanism of the government making proposals, then enterprisesaccepting and piloting, and finally coming into law; meanwhile, the governmentreforms the public pension and the social welfare system, postponing the age ofdrawing pensions from60to65. In South Korea, the government exhorts theenterprises to rise the retiring age from less than60to60. The South Korea’sgovernment asks the enterprises to annually submit the report of employees’ retiringage, and imposes punishment on those enterprises which violate the government rules.At the same time, the Korea government established the bonus system of postponingthe retiring age, encouraging employees and the senior citizens to delay retirement.In Japan and South Korea, there is a deep awareness of population aging and itsinfluence. The governments, society, community and individuals all shift the idea frompassively accepting the population aging to actively accepting and from passivepopulation ageing to active population aging, and holding a positive attitude towardthe senior citizen employment.The governments of Japan and South Korea take population aging and seniorcitizen employment seriously, and make policies with great feasibility. Japan’sgovernment places great value on the research of senior citizen employment,encourages research on population aging policies, and makes senior citizenemployment policies suitable for Japan’s economic and social development. In Japanand South Korea, senior citizen employment is regarded as government projects, andthey hold the belief that promoting senior citizen employment could reduce thesociety’s burden of supporting older people, and in the meantime provide reserve laborforce for the continuous and stable economic growth.China should draw lessons from Japan and South Korea’s population agingcourses and senior citizen employment policies. In2011, the ratio of people aged65 and above makes up9.1%of the total population in China. According to a prediction,between2026~2027, the ratio of people aged65and above will make up14%of thetotal population. Since2012, the figure of working age population of China hasdropped and presented the problem of labor force supply. Meanwhile, the aggravationof population will greatly add the society’s burden of supporting older people.China, Japan and South Korea are all under the deep influence Confucian cultureand they share common features of social culture, senior citizen support model andintergenerational relationship. Japan and South Korea are also faced with the problemsof population aging under the fast economic development. China can draw usefullessons from Japan and South Korea’s ageing and senior citizen employment policies.China should establish a specialized organization to address the population agingproblems and propose policies relevant to aging. In order to alleviate the old agesecurity pressure and the shortage of labor force, Chinese government should postponethe retiring age gradually, attaché importance to senior citizen employment, encouragethe development of senior citizen industries, create more job opportunities for seniorcitizen, and establish volunteer organizations for senior citizens. The potential ofsenior citizens should be actively made use of and should be made beneficial to thesocial and economic development.