The number of elderly people is rapidly rising, accounting for a larger portion of the population. In 2018, senior citizens will account for more than 14 percent. If this trend coincides with a low birth rate, then a far smaller number of younger Koreans will have to support a much larger number of senior citizens. At present, seven young Koreans support one senior citizen, but in 2020, this will fall to 4.6 and by 2030 to 2.7.

If this trend continues, the social welfare system can no longer support them. Medical costs for senior citizens stand at W11 trillion (US$1=W1,189) this year, accounting for 30 percent of total medical costs. By 2030, this will rise to W87 trillion or more than 50 percent. U.S. credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s forecasts Korea’s fiscal expenditure for its aging population, which stood at 7.3 percent of G.D.P. in 2005, will rise to 10.5 percent in 2020 and to 15.8 percent in 2030.

The best way to ease the burden of an aging society is to create jobs for senior citizens. The average retirement age according to the National Statistical Office is 53. The average life span is 79, which means Koreans live for more than 20 years after retirement without a regular income. Senior citizens find it difficult to live happily without any role in society. Yet it is almost impossible for them to find jobs. Over 20,000 elderly people crammed into a job fair last Saturday in Seoul. Less than 2,000 are said to have found jobs there.

Since 1998, Finland has been running a state program offering employment opportunities and job training to senior citizens. Five years later, Finland saw its employment rate for senior citizens rise to 13 percent, which is far higher than the EU average of 5.1 percent. Sweden protects its elderly employed people by requiring businesses to lay off recently hired people first in times of corporate restructuring. The examples of Finland and Sweden prove that jobs make lives fuller for senior citizens and ease the financial burden on society.

If senior citizens lag behind younger people in terms of productivity, companies can adopt a wage peak system, where salaries are reduced gradually with age from a certain time. The elderly can be given part-time jobs that entail lower workloads. Such opportunities to get senior citizens to keep working will create both healthier people and a healthier society.