Older Women Outnumber Younger Women in Employment

For the first time there are now more employed women in their 40s and 50s in Seoul than in their 20s and 30s. The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Sunday said the number of middle-aged women in employment rose by 3.6 percent from 2010 to 2011, but the number of those in their 20s and 30s dropped 0.5 percent.

But while 69.7 percent of younger women are employed in professional, managerial or administrative jobs, 56.3 percent of middle-aged women work in service, sales or unskilled labor.

Park Young-sub at the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, "Women in their 20s and 30s are either giving up on finding a job or have difficulty finding something suitable for their qualifications. Those in their 40s and 50s are returning to the labor market to supplement their income to pay for the education of their children or prepare for retirement."

Many women still give up on finding a job due to childbirth and childcare. The number of women in employment peaked among those in their late 20s with 326,000, dropped to 253,000 among women in their early 30s, and went up again after forties.