The number people over 60 who work on non-permanent contracts has surpassed 1 million for the first time. Statistics Korea on Thursday said the figure increased by 6.1 percent or 58,000 until August to 1.02 million people. That means a whopping 70 percent of workers over 60 are on temporary contracts.

The number of teenagers on temporary contracts ballooned by 22.6 percent or 36,000 to 195,000 in the same period. But the total population of non-regular workers was down 1.4 percent at 5.91 million.

An official at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance blamed the recession. Elderly people who are ill prepared for retirement struggle to make ends meet and re-enter the bottom end of the workforce, and youngsters are forced to find work to help out their families.