Seven out of 10 office workers in their 20s and 30s said they support extending the mandatory retirement age. As job insecurity grows in an aging era, analysts say the younger generation, which had opposed extending the retirement age, has shifted its view.
Remember&Company, which operates the business card and network management service "Remember," said on the 19th that in its "perceptions of extending the retirement age" survey of 1,037 office workers, three out of four (74%) said an extension is necessary.
Extending the retirement age has long been cited as one of the signature "generational conflict" issues where intergenerational interests sharply diverge. However, in this survey, support far outpaced "keep the status quo (12.9%)" and "abolish the retirement age (13.1%)."
By age group, not only those in their 50s (77.9%) and 60s (80.8%) but also those in their 20s (67.9%) and 30s (70.4%) showed high approval rates. A Remember official said, "This shows that the younger generation no longer sees extending the retirement age as benefiting only the older generation, but recognizes it as a generational task directly tied to their own future."
Among respondents, 60.2% who said an extension is needed picked "age 63–65" as appropriate. This response accounted for a majority across all age groups. However, 30.2% of respondents in their 60s and older answered "age 66–69."
Across generations, the biggest reason office workers want to extend the retirement age was "future economic anxiety." "Stability in later life (39.0%)" and "income gap until receiving the National Pension (17.8%)" ranked first and second. By generation, "stability in later life" was identified as the top priority across all age groups from the 20s to the 50s.
For those in their 60s and older, "to better leverage accumulated experience and know-how (29.7%)" ranked first. This suggests that as retirement nears, not only economic reasons but also the desire to have one's value socially recognized and to contribute is strongly reflected.
Ju Dae-ung, head of Remember's research business division, said, "This survey clearly shows that the focus of discussions on extending the retirement age should not be generational conflict but on how to fundamentally overhaul the existing personnel and employment system."